Novelties in the electric aircraft industry: eBeaver and eFlyer 800
Bye Aerospace’s eFlyer 800
Interesting double set of news this week in the electric airplane space.
First we had a joint announcement by Vancouver-based seaplane airline Harbour Air, American electric motor manufacturer magniX and Swiss startup H55 that they are to work together to get the all-electric eBeaver seaplane certified.
The eBeaver is the all-electric version of the DCH-2 Beaver seaplane that, in 2019, made headlines all over the world because completed what is considered, technically (although it is still operating under an experimental certification), the first all-electric commercial flight, operated by Harbour Air.
The obtention of a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) will allow Harbour Air to deploy it in its regular services between Vancouver and several destinations in British Columbia.
In this project magniX supplies the electric motor, whereas H55 takes care of the battery pack.
These last two names may sound familiar to followers of our podcast, since I have had the chance to interview both the CEO of magniX, Roei Ganzarski, and the founder of H55, André Borschberg, in the last few months.
Then we have the Bye Aerospace new electric aircaft, which was announced barely 48 hours later.
The Colorado-based firm was already one of the key players in the light electric aircraft market, with its electric trainer, the eFlyer2 (and its larger development, the eFlyer 4), finding favour with forward-looking pilot schools all over the world (OSM Aviation in Scandinavia, for example), but the eFlyer 800 is a step up from that.
This new aircraft is going to be an all-electric 8-seater, powered by two Safran Electric ENGINeUS™ motors mounted on the wings.
According to the press note distributed on 22nd April, the eFlyer 800 is expected to feature a top cruise speed of 320 knots (although the expectation is that it will usually cruise at a more moderate 280 knots), with a 35,000 feet ceiling and a 500 nm range.
The eFlyer 800 will be rich in safety features, besides the obvious twin engine configuration, it will also have redundant battery packs, an aircraft parachute and even an auto-landing system (it is not specified who’s going supply it, but Garmin has its Autoland product in the market- which I had the chance to test ahead of its public release - after it got certified last year)
And, now, the economics: Bye Aerospace claims the eFlyer 800 will have one-fifth of the operating costs of traditional twin turboprops, which expects will make it an attractive option for customers in its primary markets, which include air taxi and cargo, as well as regional and charter passenger markets.