Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Bye Aerospace announces Eflyer 800 8 seater twin airplane

Eflyer 800 is expected to have a 500 mile range, 280 knot cruise, 35,000 ft ceiling and roughly 3,400 fpm rate of climb.

https://newatlas.com/aircraft/bye-aerospace-eflyer-800-electric-aircraft/



"Colorado-based electric aviation startup Bye Aerospace is currently best known for its two-seater eFlyer 2 aircraft. That may soon change, though, as the company has now unveiled a planned battery-powered eight-seater.

Named the eFlyer 800, the turboprop class airplane will be able to seat a maximum of seven passengers, along with one or two pilots in front.

Thrust will be provided by two wing-mounted ENGINeUS electric motors, manufactured by project partner Safran Electrical & Power. These will be powered by quad-redundant lithium battery packs, for an estimated range of 500 nautical miles per charge (575 miles/926 km). The plane will have a rate of climb of 3,400 feet (1,036 m) per minute, and a ceiling of 35,000 feet (10,668 m).

In the event that the batteries or anything else should fail, the eFlyer 800 will also be equipped with a full-airplane parachute. Other features will include an emergency auto-landing system with built-in terrain avoidance, plus the options of solar cells for helping to keep the batteries charged, and electric motors in the wheels for taxiing."

Turn around time must be abysmal.

Compared to a regional jet,
After an hour flight you are grounded for the better part of a day...

That's what I see, too. No 30 minute turns with that one. One or two turns daily. The 1600 lb payload is also a bit skimpy, better not bring your lard-ass in-laws.....

Can't even fly from El Paso to Dallas with that abysmal 500 mi. range. Not sure why they're so intent on forcing electric everything down our throats. Just more control over the population.

I think your hat band is a little too tight. How is adding electric options to planes increasing control (rather than giving more options?). For someone who doesn't need more range or quick turns, electric seems like a low cost, low maintenance option. Say for flying from San Fran to Tahoe for the weekend, or from Seattle to Sun Valley. Or from Miami to anywhere in the Caribbean.

It's not about providing more options to the consumer. It's about phasing out fossil fuels and therefore limiting our options, and our mobility while exerting more control the individual, under the guise of "green" energy. EPA regs, have all but ruined diesels and they're hell bent on getting rid of gasoline as well. There's not enough electrical capacity in the grid to sustain battery powered everything and solar/wind power simply won't cut it. It's certainly not about the environment as lithium battery manufacturing and disposal is an environmental nightmare, and if you don't see that, maybe it's you whose hatband is too tight.

I don't see the application with a range of 500 miles. Once self-driving cars have a range like that, just get in your car, program your location, and then sleep, work, read, watch a movie, etc. With instructions to wake you when you are about 1/2 hour from your destination.

Completely WRONG.

This is not conforming to some government mandate. This isn't come company forced to comply with some EPA ruling. This isn't anyone shoving anything down your gullet.

This is a privately owned, locally based company here in Colorado, trying to innovate. 100% of their funding is venture capitol - not handouts by the government.

They have been around since 2007, and also manufacture drones for remote sensing. (I have experience with their drones using special imaging to direct autonomous vehicles to apply variable rate application of fertilizers on test USDA sites in Colorado. LONG story, that...)

No one is forcing you to "fly electric", and this has nothing to do with phasing out fossil fuels.

It is just another tool in a consumer's toolbelt.

If it is inconvenient, doesn't make sense, and is too expensive, this company will cease to exist.

I was speaking in general terms.

No, you had a knee jerk reaction like many here, went off half cocked.

Just admit it... You jumped the gun and looked like a fool.

Side note for those that are curious:

Any (legitimate, commercial/government) drone/airborne EV I have experience with has a simple battery bank that is easily swappable. Power banks are pre-charged and on hand and airborne EV's can be back in the air in MINUTES.

To think a plane has to sit in a hanger plugged into a USB-C charger like your iPhone is, well, laughable.

Meebe, but I'll never admit it.

What I said does holds true, though. Increased regulation and nigh impossible CAFE and emissions standards has caused innumerable problems. As a result industry has been moving that way for quite a while.

Increased regulation let the push to more fuel efficient vehicles.

I kind of like out RAV4 that has more power than my '54 Chevy coupe and gets 30+ mpg.

If it hadn't been for regulation, and competition from overseas (The American car buyer will never buy small cars, they want Cadillacs and Buicks) and we'd all still be driving cars with 9-18MPG inefficient motors that needed valve adjustment 2x a year and a head job every 50K miles

Concept airplane that’ll never see the light of day. The range is completely inadequate for anything, you have to be able to get there plus have a reserve and get to an alternate if the weather requires. 500 nm won’t get you anywhere in the Caribbean from Miami except maybe the Bahamas or Cuba.

Small startups are always floating ideas like this and 99.9% never get built. Most are hoping to get bought out by a real manufacturer for their ideas. We’ll eventually see electric airplanes built, but it won’t be this one.

Just like with electric vehicles, it’s going to take a major battery technology breakthrough before they’re viable. It’s not going to happen with today’s technology.

No, it wasn't CAFE standards that did that.

It was $5/gallon of gas after Katrina that did that.

Competition from overseas, yeah I'll give you that.

I see fleets of these run as drones in the future. "Pilots" will be ground based and control these with joysticks as they pass through assigned sectors . Eventually they will shift all control to computer networks and pilots will be a thing of the past.
Surprised Richard Branson hasnt announced it already.

I hope that happens while I"m still able to take advantage of it.

A good lightning strike or two in a strong electrical storm and it’s probably gonna be teats up.

Just some general comments. Electricity is a secondary energy source dependent ultimately on on coal, gas, oil, or nuclear energy; we have no nuclear energy practically speaking, so it’s hydrocarbons to the rescue again.

It isn’t just existing and accessible as a primary source of power; this goes to the footprint of producing those batteries, and with rare elements, which must weigh the proverbial ton (just like in the cars) reducing payload. Of course aviation fuel is around, what, 8 lbs per gallon so I’m not sure of the trade-off there. I’m thinking the batteries outweigh the liquid fuel though.

But, it’s the whole ruse of just “plugging in” and there’s your power.

Good looking plane though.

There is nothing low cost or low maintenance on an electric plane. Just look at the drones cost and maintenance they do not haul people.