Electron’s 2024 Round the World Plans

Dean Sigler Announcements, Batteries, Electric Powerplants, Sky Taxis, Solar Power, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Teofilo Leite has been refining a beautiful twin-motor glider for the last decade.  Apparently he’s moving on to a five-seat, four-motor, dual-propeller beauty that is set to take on the world.  The Electron 5 looks a great deal like a larger Electron 2, which has been flying in various configurations for the last decade. Electron Aviation, with representatives in The Netherlands and Australia states, “Our Electron 2, a two-seater battery-electric aircraft (Teofilo’s earlier design), is the flying proof that our energy efficient aircraft designs deliver outstanding performance. Whilst being well within inside the 600-kilogram (1,320 pound) ultralight microlight [regulations], it achieves 3 hours flying time during which it can cover 300 kilometers (186 miles).”  Electron 2 flies its pilot and passenger on 7.5 kilowatt hours per hour of flight.  Its three-hour endurance would mean a battery of at least 22.5 kilowatt-hours. Continued improvement to the Electron 2 required “30,000 design and engineering hours and several re-designs.”  The latest iteration “has …

Crossover Preparing for Market Re-Entry

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Hybrid Aircraft, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Teofilo Leite introduced his Crossover, a touring motorglider powered by two Emrax motors, several years ago.  This video from six years ago shows how it was configured then.  Crossover has gone through several changes in its mode of propulsion since then and has become the svelte form that expresses a need to fly. In its original configuration, Crossover’s flaps, landing gear and motors extended and retracted, a neat bit of packaging in the slender fuselage.  The airplane went through several changes, including one variant, shown at Aero 2014, that had a Rotax engine driving a long carbon-fiber shaft that drove a series of belts to a tail-mounted propeller.  On the other side, a hybrid version with Rotax engine driving a generator charged the electric motor on the tail.  It was a stunning display. Under its beautiful canopy, which opens via Bluetooth command, the low-slung seating is accessible even from a wheelchair.  Carbon molded bucket seats “are shaped for long journeys …