A Different Type of Kitplane Green Aeronautics are moving beyond small beginnings into grander realms through ZeroAvia, Mitsubishi, and Alaska Airlines. Gabriel DeVault has flown two different electric airplanes of his own, a converted EarthStar Thundergull and a Sonex eXenos (which seems to be his daily commuter between Hollister, California and his home in Watsonville). Both have been featured prominently in his YouTube channel and your editor has written about them for Kitplanes magazine. Now, Gabriel is working on a different type of Kitplane at a much large scale. Gabriel managed research and design for the motor and related systems on the Zero electric motorcycle. The original unit has gone through several upgrades, and is now seen in variants from 27 to 110 horsepower. The company sold over 4,000 units last year in 30 countries including the United States. They look to build at an accelerated rate, hoping to double sales every year. He has taken that expertise to larger …
Would an Electric LSA Kit Appeal to You?
Is there a need and desire for an electric light sport aircraft (LSA) kit that is inexpensive to own, operate, and maintain? Electric flight already offers that possibility, and if kits were available to further lower costs, we could see a new way to achieve low-cost flight. The LSA designation qualifies a builder to take advantage of LSA’s lighter constraints. A good friend who happens to have designed an electric Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) a few years ago let the project lapse because of the need to tend to other business interests. He wants to know if there’s a market for a new, improved version of his original concept – an electric LSA that would fly for considerably less in operating costs than an internal-combustion model, and that would provide reliable, safe sport flying. He provided the following survey to the Experimental Aircraft Association, which created the link at the end of this entry. His comments follow. “This survey is …