Pipistrel’s Velis Electro has become the first all-electric aircraft to secure type certification from a civil aviation body, after the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) approved the two-seater design on Wednesday.
The Slovenian-produced aircraft is mainly geared towards pilot training. The certification, turned around from design in less than three years, has been facilitated by close co-operation between Pipistrel and EASA.
According to the EASA, the certification project was rolled out in two streams: initial administrative activities, followed by a co-ordinated flight test program using a fleet of (non-certified) Alpha-Electros.
Operating a comparable aircraft in parallel allowed the EASA team, including members from the French and Swiss civil aviation authorities, to make accurate value judgments on the electric aircraft’s operation.
“This is an exciting breakthrough,” said EASA executive director Patrick Ky. “This is the first electric aircraft EASA has certified but it will certainly not be the last, as the aviation industry pursues new technologies to reduce noise and emissions and to improve the sustainability of aviation.”
Ivo Boscarol, founder and CEO of Pipistrel Aircraft, said, “The type certification of the Pipistrel Velis Electro is the first step towards the commercial use of electric aircraft, which is needed to make emission-free aviation feasible. It is considerably quieter than other aeroplanes and produces no combustion gases at all.
“It provides optimism, also to other electric aircraft designers, that the type certification of electric engines and aeroplanes is possible.”
The aircraft’s features now include:
- Full approval for pilot training in daytime operations under visual flight rules (VFR);
- Intuitive “powertrain” management;
- First to support SAE AE-7D charging plug; and
- Optimisation for pilot training as an element of the Velis Training System, complementing the SW 121.
The Velis Electro is powered by a 76hp (58kW) liquid-cooled, Pipistrel E-811 electric engine – developed with Slovenian engineering companies Emrax and Emsiso.
Electric aircraft technology has an increased focus of the industry so far this year, with the world’s largest all-electric aircraft, the Cessna Caravan, flown for the first time late last month.
