Colorado aviation company takes flight with new all-electric plane
A Colorado company is making a splash in the aviation industry with a plane that's both cheaper and quieter to operate than its standard counterparts.
The eFlyer 2 looks like a regular plane, and for all intents and purposes, it is.
"The only difference is instead of a loud, noisy, dirty engine, it's got a nice, clean, quiet electric engine," said Bye Aerospace CEO Rod Zastrow.
Bye Aerospace is the company behind the innovative design.
"It's a new design started from scratch that incorporates a lightweight, small but very powerful electric engine, lightweight composite construction materials for the structure, and high energy density batteries to propel the motor, so all of that's brought together for the first time in history."
Although it will be available to the public for purchase, the company has geared its design toward the flight school industry.
"Our main objective is to help lower the cost of pilot training. So right now, legacy aircraft cost about $165-175 an hour to operate, just basic operating costs. This aircraft is designed to operate at only $35-40 an hour."
The planes operate off a series of batteries and backup batteries that will automatically kick in if necessary, with charging stations that work similarly to electric cars.
"We can charge two airplanes at the same time. So, it makes it very efficient for the flight schools."
And the interest in people getting their hands on the new technology is booming, including here in Colorado with Spartan College already submitting a pre-order.
"We have about 1,000 of those orders from around the world for both this and the follow-on four-seat derivative."
Although the company just conducted a successful test flight from Centennial Airport, the design is still undergoing rigorous testing.
"We will learn a lot in this process, and that will happen over the next six to nine months. We'll do another prototype that will incorporate all of those changes, and we hope that's the last prototype that will undergo all of the FAA-required flight testing, and then we can start production. So that won't be too terribly long down the road."
And while the eFlyer 2 may change the game in the world of pilot training, there are limitations to the technology with how long all-electric planes can stay in the air and how big they can be due to the weight of batteries - meaning we likely won't be seeing any all-electric jets anytime soon.
