Tag: all-electric
Bell Unveils All-Electric Nexus 4EX at CES 2020
Bell’s new four-rotor version of its Nexus eVTOL is optimized for intra-urban mobility. The Consumer Electronics Show 2019 was a hotbed for new aerial mobility technologies, and this year is culminating in a similarly exciting event for breakthrough UAM innovations. Last year, we saw the initial unveiling of Bell’s Nexus prototype which featured six ducted fans with variable tilt angles...

Bell Unveils All-Electric Nexus 4EX at CES 2020

Bell’s new four-rotor version of its Nexus eVTOL is optimized for intra-urban mobility.
The Consumer Electronics Show 2019 was a hotbed for new aerial mobility technologies, and this year is culminating in a similarly exciting event for breakthrough UAM innovations. Last year, we saw the initial unveiling of Bell’s Nexus prototype which featured six ducted fans with variable tilt angles to facilitate vertical takeoff and landing. The original prototype, now dubbed the Nexus 6HX due to its six hybrid-electric powered rotors, is accompanied by a fully-electric version.
Related: Bell Flight Unveils Nexus Prototype at CES 2019
Whereas the Nexus 6HX touts a range of up to 150 miles, the vehicle was originally optimized with inter-urban mobility, which necessitated the use of hybrid-electric propulsion. The specialized Nexus 4EX is instead designed specifically with up to 60-mile intra-urban flights in mind, which enabled the powerplant to be completely reliant on the latest battery technologies.
Bell CEO Mitch Snyder commented on the design choices that ultimately led to a reduced fan count and the hurdle to an all-electric powerplant:
One vehicle was compromising the attributes of each, and so we went at it in a different direction,” said Snyder. “We looked at . . . what was coming from the market and what they wanted. And we were also able to progress our technology further and understand it and say, ‘You know what? I think we can build an all-electrical [aircraft].’
Snyder also spoke about the emphasis Bell is placing on safety, and the path it plans to take to achieve EASA’s level of safety recently identified in its certification standards for small VTOL aircraft. “With this form of transportation, we want to make it safe, we want to make it quiet, [and] we want to make it clean and green,” said Snyder. “And the most important thing here, besides the safety, is we want to make it affordable, [and] accessible to everyone.”

More efficient operation was the driver for fewer ducts in the Nexus design, said Scott Drennan, Bell’s VP of Innovation. Bell Image
Bell is looking to have a certified system ready to serve the public in the middle to late 2020s, with a demonstrator to “come in appropriately” between now and then. In the interim, the company plans to continue technological development in venues such as its Systems Integration Lab (SIL), as well as regulatory development by working with the FAA to level-set all aerial mobility infrastructure to a common vision.
Why it’s important: Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are coming to the realization that the demands of an eVTOLs powerplant are largely determined by the missions it is intended to serve. As the industry hones in to what the market is demanding of a new aerial mobility service, more OEMs will under an optimization of their vehicles to make best use of electric propulsion technologies where applicable.
Sources // Bell; Vertical Mag
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OSM Aviation Academy Orders 60 Bye Aerospace eFlyers
Bye Aerospace is an American aircraft manufacturer based in Englewood, Colorado, and for the past 12 years has specialized in the design and manufacture of electric aircraft, including unmanned aircraft for geospatial role and light aircraft for the flight training role. CEO George E. Bye founded the company to apply electric configurations along with aerodynamic advances to “design, build and...

OSM Aviation Academy Orders 60 Bye Aerospace eFlyers

Bye Aerospace is an American aircraft manufacturer based in Englewood, Colorado, and for the past 12 years has specialized in the design and manufacture of electric aircraft, including unmanned aircraft for geospatial role and light aircraft for the flight training role. CEO George E. Bye founded the company to apply electric configurations along with aerodynamic advances to “design, build and market aerospace products that will offer significant economic benefits and increases in performance to aerospace markets.”
The centerpiece of Bye Aerospace’s recent innovative efforts is the eFlyer, an all-electric general aviation aircraft that will have zero CO2 emissions and drastically reduce operation costs due to the lack of need for fuel. The eFlyer has a two-seat and four-seat configuration which are both powered by a Siemens propulsion system. The eFlyer 2 began flight testing on February 8 at Denver Centennial Airport with the goal of being the first Part 23 FAA-certified all-electric aircraft to the flight training market. Check out the first flight of the eFlyer (previously named Sun Flyer) below:
In a recent interview documented by AINonline, CEO Bye stated that the “eFlyer’s primary markets [are] flight training and air-taxi services, [so] it makes more sense to make the price of the airplane as reasonable as possible.” This was after the announcement at Aero Friedrichshafen in Germany that solar cells would no longer be standard on the eFlyer wings.
It is evident that the Bye’s recent development and testing of the eFlyer has caught the eye of many operators, as nearly 300 orders have already been placed for the two-seat configuration. Up to 60 of the aircraft orders have come from Norwegian flight school OSM Aviation Academy, while another 18 orders have come from Norwegian partner Elfly AS. Elfly CEO Eric Lithun went as far as to say that the eFlyer will be the “Tesla of the general aviation industry.” OSM Aviation Academy is committed to the development and operation of more environmentally friendly transportation, and urges the airline industry to do the same.

Siemens and Bye Aerospace agree to collaborate on an all-electric propulsion system for the eFlyer [ Photo // Bye Aerospace ]
Sources // AINonline; Bye Aerospace
Eviation and ERAU Collaborate on Electric Aircraft R&D
Israel-based electric aircraft company Eviation may be “building the future of regional transportation” with the industry’s first all-electric aircraft. The company is based in Israel and stood up their US headquarters in Prescott, AZ during Q3 of 2018. Eviation is currently developing their first prototype, Alice, an 11-seat electric aircraft with 95% composite material structure. Alice is powered by distributed propulsion,...

Eviation and ERAU Collaborate on Electric Aircraft R&D

Israel-based electric aircraft company Eviation may be “building the future of regional transportation” with the industry’s first all-electric aircraft. The company is based in Israel and stood up their US headquarters in Prescott, AZ during Q3 of 2018. Eviation is currently developing their first prototype, Alice, an 11-seat electric aircraft with 95% composite material structure.
Alice is powered by distributed propulsion, one pusher propellor at the tail, and one on each wingtip of the aircraft for the sake of redundancy and drag reduction, providing for a cruise speed of 260 knots and range of 650 miles. Other articulated design features of Alice are the low operating cost (by avoiding traditional fuel), advanced materials and thermal management, vehicle autonomy, and minimized noise pollution. Eviation expects that the aircraft will be charged by mobile charging stations similar to aviation fuel trucks that are currently used – one hour in the aircraft would necessitate a 30-minute charge.
Eviation plans to collaborate with fourth-year undergraduate engineering students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) on the research and development of its electric technologies. Further, ERAU’s Prescott, Arizona campus will host much of the flight testing of its Alice aircraft, with first flight planned for 2019. The involved students plan to focus on preliminary design of future electric propulsion and airframe concepts, as well as perform analysis, validation, and testing. ERAU chancellor Frank Ayers emphasized that “by including Embry-Riddle engineers and students in the R&D pool, Eviation and the Alice Aircraft will take advantage of the exposure and knowledge from our best and brightest engineers.”
Eviation has been said to be the “Tesla of electric planes” and may “change everything about regional air travel” – the 53rd Paris Air Show shall provide a proving ground for the company’s technology. The Alice commuter aircraft is slated to debut at the Air Show in June of 2019, with first flight coming soon after. Eviation CEO Omer Bar-Yohay told AIN that the company plans to have three flying prototypes by Q2 of 2020, followed by two to three years of certification.
Why its important: Eviation is taking a step closer to the commercialization of electric aircraft as an innovator in the space of regional transport, possibly to be the first to market. The company has also recruited young, passionate engineers at ERAU to continue to steer these new strides toward a future of electric-powered aviation.
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