Dr. Seeley provided this link to a story from China Daily this morning. The blog reported on this airplane last year following its public debut, but this year, two examples showed up at the 10th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, also billed as Airshow China. Held in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, the show featured daily flight demonstrations by one of the two aircraft on display. China Daily followed its headline with this optimistic kickline, “Huge markets are expected for the versatile, eco-friendly 2-seat RX1E, then reports, “China will soon put its first domestically developed electric aircraft into mass production, and designers expect a huge market at home and abroad.” “First” may be a dubious claim, with Tian Yu’s Greenwing International (Yuneec in China) e430 having flown five years ago, and having resumed flight testing in the US last year. It may be true in the sense that Yuneec International now only shows drones, action cameras and powered skateboards on its …
Another Two-Seat Electric Airplane from China
China has a second two-seat electric airplane, the Rui Xiang RX1E, a high-wing, side-by-side craft similar to Yuneec’s E430. Both are cantilever, high-winged configurations, with the Yuneec sporting a V-tail and the RX1E a T-tail. Besides the difference in alphabetical empennages, perhaps something gets lost in translation, with several news items offering slightly different versions of this story. The English language version of the China News Service calls the RX1E China’s first electric aircraft, although it’s being introduced at least four years after the E430. Most reports agree that it is designed by the Liaoning General Aviation Institute and that Shenyang Aircraft Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Under the Rui Xiang General name is responsible for manufacturing. Made of carbon fiber composite material, the RX1E uses a 10 kilowatt-hour lithium battery, enough for a 40-minute flight. Charging takes one-and-a-half hours and restores enough energy to make a 40-minute flight – all for about 5 yuan (80 cents). China News Service reports, “The …