The rapid evolution of electric propulsion systems creates an opportunity to cut emissions by replacing conventional engines with electric motors using low carbon electricity. This trend is starting with small planes and projected to grow rapidly over the next decade. To date, no e-planes have been certified in Canada. However, a smaller, ultralight e-plane, the Pipistrel Alpha Electro, is available and the first one imported into Canada has now accumulated 500 hours of flying time. Paul Parker, the Associate Director – Environment, WISA, went for a flight and asked the owner, James Douma, about his assessment of the new technology.
What motivated you to purchase an electric plane?
"I had been watching the electric aviation space for over a decade, wanting desperately to do things that would help mitigate the problems that we are having with climate change. Dumping all that CO2 and lead into the atmosphere was not something that I could feel good about."
What do you most enjoy about flying electrically?
“First there is almost no maintenance. Just come out and fly.
Even taking it for a flight, the normal run up procedures are much simpler. Just taxi out and it is ready to go.
The actual experience of flying, so much more power, so much quieter, more relaxing, and psychologically it is much more pleasant to fly. When I went back to fly my conventional plane after several months, there was so much noise that it seemed like something was wrong. The acceleration was slower. It was a much longer run before take-off. Consequently, it is not as pleasant to fly as the electric.”
What are the disadvantages?
“One thing that is kind of obvious is the range. I knew going into it. Most of my flying is just for pleasure. Going out for an hour is all I need. That was all that I did in the other plane. Still having said that, it would be nice to have more range. As the battery technology improves that will become better.
At the technical level, managing the software and the batteries is still at an early stage. It can be improved to make a huge difference in the user experience with the aircraft. I don’t know what any of the other e-planes are like, but there are things that would be easy to fix and need attention.”
So given your experience with the electric 2-seater, do you think that it would be good as a trainer for students?
“Absolutely! Yeah, yeah. It is a really nice airplane to fly. It is responsive, but it is not scary. Not like some high performance airplanes that are responsive, but too twitchy. It feels safe flying it.
When compared to something like a Cessna, you actually have to fly the Electro. Whereas the Cessna is kind of like a tank. It doesn’t do anything quickly. That may be better from a certain perspective, but I think it makes the student too passive.
There are a lot of things about managing the engine which aren’t really central to flying and airmanship. It is about managing the machine. Whereas, with electric it is kind of like a video game or flight simulator. When you want to play, you turn it on and go for your flight and have fun. With the Electro, you switch it on and you go.”
As a pioneer in this space, what do you find among other pilots. Are they interested in joining you?
“I think there is some interest. The last person that I took up for a flight is interested in starting a flight school with e-planes.
There is also a backlash as well. I post videos on You Tube and you see comments like “It is impossible.” I have posted flights that are over an hour long and comments say that it is not possible to fly over an hour. I don’t know how to answer that."
Any predictions about the future that you would like to share?
“Recently there is a lot of attention and investment in the electric aircraft space. Multi-rotor, autonomous, air taxi, etc. I think that we will see more of these aircraft, but it is definitely an uphill battle.”
Well thank you for taking up the challenge. We need pioneers like yourself to gain experience in electric aviation. Thank you, James.
As noted above, James owns a conventional plane as well as the Alpha Electro, but he rarely flies it now as he prefers the electric option. We went for a flight in the Alpha Electro and I agree with his assessment. Even with two people onboard, the electric motor provides rapid acceleration and the e-plane is off the ground in less than 100meters, much faster than the conventional plane. Control movements are light and smooth with the Electro responding instantly. It is a joy to fly.
James is also concerned about the need to take climate action and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to the e-plane, he has a 50kW solar array on the roof of the hangar. Our flight used about 10kWh of electricity so one hour of bright sunshine on the panels would provide five times as much electricity as we used.
The cost of the electricity for our flight, if it was purchased from the grid, would be less than $2. The electricity cost is thus much lower than the cost of fuel for a conventional flight.
The new challenge is to maximize the useful life of the batteries (the Alpha Electro has two sets of batteries, one behind the seats and one in front with a total capacity of 20kWh) Flights are typically less than one hour. The recommendation is to return to the circuit with 30% of the capacity to avoid depleting the battery too far. James usually returns with 50% of the SOC (state of charge) remaining and the display showed 58% remaining when we returned after 37 minutes. A potential research project is to examine the SOC, discharge rates and battery voltages in more detail. Battery and energy management is a new skill for pilots to acquire to use this revolutionary technology to its greatest potential.
