Electric Aircraft

In the new IDTechEx report, "Manned Electric Aircraft 2020-2030" the analyst praises manufacturers such as Bye Aerospace for "walking before they try to run". Like Tesla with cars, they started with two-seater pure-electric vehicles and progressed to four - in this case, fixed-wing aircraft. Sales of these as air taxis and pilot trainers are booming with Bye alone attracting $165 million in business in about one year.

Switzerland has become the first country in Europe to develop a process to authorize spray drones. According to the Swiss government, drones are well suited as replacements for helicopters in spraying pesticides.

Researchers have now demonstrated a completely automatic landing with vision assisted navigation that functions properly without the need for ground-based systems.

The details have been released of a remarkable project to make short takeoff and landing aircraft catapulted form airport buildings and other constrained sites, first applications being in very low cost, very fast mail delivery.

Researchers have developed a sustainable innovation pilot project for early detection and prevention of forest fires through drone technology.

Airbus, Groupe ADP and the RATP Group, along with the Paris Ile-de-France region and the French civil aviation authority, have announced the launch of a feasibility study to demonstrate an urban system of vertical take-off and landing vehicles for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

It is easy to say that, although small electric aircraft are at last selling, they are a negligible part of the overall aircraft market. Mistake. They will work up from the bottom to be mainstream. Airbus, Boeing and Rolls Royce know this, but many others are sleeping through the future. Some of the successes are from small companies.

Expect seven-times the air traffic in 2050 increasing greenhouse gas X4 unless something radical happens. Elon Musk has made interesting statements about electric aircraft over the years. His Tesla will survive and prosper: if Tesla investors stop investing the Chinese will snap it up. Either way, somewhere down its list of priorities will be reinventing pure electric aircraft, so what does Tesla bring to the table?

The pilot starts this month, and the tests will be run continuously for 10 weeks in a test greenhouse planted with gerberas at the World Horti Center. Target: the golden twin-spot moth.