While we wait yet another five years for commercial development of each newly announced but promising battery chemistry, one company has its cells ready to fly in Bye Aerospace’s eFlyer 2 and in Texas Aircraft’s Colt S-LSA. Oxis Energy has managed to leapfrog lithium-ion makers with its lithium-sulfur battery packs packing 400 Watt-hours per kilogram. Considering the best announced pack-level li-ion performance has been 260 W-hr/kg, the leap is significant. Batteries, for now, are at the heart of electric aircraft. Until Doc Brown’s Flux Capacitor or a hydrogen fuel cell with Dollar Tree refills comes along, batteries are battling it out for our airborne dollars. Lithium-ion remains in the forefront, with Tesla staging its shareholders’ meeting and its long-anticipated “Battery Day” on September 22. Elon Musk has been dangling the promise of a million-mile battery for the last year, which may tie in with Chinese manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL). According to Bloomberg, CATL’s, “Chairman and founder Zeng Yuqun said …
Electric Colt Introduced at Oshkosh
Texas Aircraft hails from its development and production facility at South Texas Regional Airport in Hondo, Texas. Designed in Brazil, their Colt Light Sport Aircraft is built by American veterans. Constrained by LSA design criteria, the craft is the high-wing representation of what we have come to expect from the Pipistrel Alpha Trainer, the Vashon Ranger, and others of the type. It has the almost mandatory Rotax engine, but will soon fly fume-free with a Siemens motor. With the two-seat aircraft already flight tested in Brazil and its American version being built and flown here, the Colt’s introduction at AirVenture included a glimpse of its alternate power plant, a Siemens SP-55D producing 72 kilowatts (96.5 horsepower) AT 3,000 rpm. Matheus Grande, co-founder of the Hondo-based firm, told Flying magazine, “The availability to offer a version of our new Colt LSA powered by a new-generation Siemens eAircraft electric motor will give both private owners and flight schools the option of having …