Electric Aircraft

[blaswichk]

Well now some big players are getting in the game, and that’s dandy for us as we get to see how serious electric flight will be. In my AOPA on-line newsletter I saw the Airbus E-Fan airplane using ducted fans in nacelles like turbojets. Two seats for now, and about an hour of flight, but are waiting for better batteries for advancement. Stay tuned!

[rahulchoudhary73]

Yes, that's really cool. They are using an E-FADEC engine control subsystem which seems hard to find more info on. The hybrid version of the E-FAN uses the Engiro RE20-2 Wankel engine generator. Their decade plus goal looks like a 70 seater hybrid electric aircraft, with 70% less carbon emissions and similar noise reduction targets. As a demonstrator, it must cost quite a packet. One always wonders why is it only the big ones who get to R&D, and how much do they invest in things like these...