Automotive giant, Airbus Group will be unveiling its all-electric aeroplane the E-Fan at this year’s Paris air show.
The emission-free plane weighs around 550kg and is capable of travelling up to 136mph. The E-Fan 2.0 is the second iteration of the company’s drive to create an electric plane. The two-seat pilot training aircraft will boast lithium-polymer batteries with a capacity of 60kW that drive two electric motors.
Construction of the E-Fan is slated to begin next year in southwestern France at Pau Pyrénées Airport, with Airbus predicting that the all-electric airplane will achieve commercialisation in late 2017. The company then plans on manufacturing a four-seat variant which will hit the market in 2019. The company has reportedly claimed that it is aiming to manufacture a 100-seat electric passenger plane by 2050 that will be informed by Airbus Group’s ongoing E-Fan project.
In order to prove the E-Fan’s capability, Airbus is planning on flying the prototype across the English Channel on 10 July.
Decarbonising the transport sector remains one of the most challenging factors facing the UK. Transport accounts for the UK’s largest total energy use, responsible for 36% of UK energy consumption. Of that, air transport accounted for 23% of all transport energy consumption, the equivalent of 12.3 million tonnes of oil consumption.
