Since we launched East Anglia Bylines in 2021, we have been following a pioneering development of electric flight in Norfolk: the first British-built electric light aircraft. The NUNCATS Electric Skyjeep aims to make cheap solar-powered electric flight available to hobby fliers and educators, but especially to aid agencies in countries where sunlight is plentiful, but aviation fuel is scarce and expensive.
In July, this Norfolk-based project passed a new milestone at the world’s biggest airshow in Wisconsin USA, which is attended by half a million people.
‘No Unnecessary Novelty‘
Many people are experimenting with electric flight. But most are designing from first principles, making their planes highly sophisticated, and very expensive. As a result, they are targeting upmarket uses like private flight and air taxis.
By contrast, the Electric Skyjeep is simple and cheap. That’s where NUNCATS, a Norfolk-based not-for-profit Community Interest Company, gets its name (No Unnecessary Novelty or Complexity). The company uses the Zenith CH750 kit-form airframe, which is tried and tested worldwide. They replace the petrol engine with an electric one, and the fuel tanks with batteries.
For aid agencies and for hobby fliers, this is a very cheap way of flying. The aircraft itself will probably not cost much more than a mid range electric car. And wherever solar energy is available, the fuel is free, and the maintenance cost of an electric engine is a tiny fraction of a conventional petrol one.
Like all electric aircraft, the Electric Skyjeep has a limited range, perhaps 45 minutes flying on a full charge. But for aid agencies that doesn’t matter. In tropical forests or mountain regions a ten-mile journey can take a doctor days to cover on the ground. A light aircraft can do it in minutes. That means more clinics and more lives saved. And battery performance is steadily improving.
A long slog
From the initial idea by NUNCATS founder Tim Bridge, to now, the project has taken long months of designing, building and testing in a cold hangar at Old Buckenham, near Attleborough. Getting permission to fly has also taken time. There are well-established rules for the safe design of conventional aircraft, but the rules for electric flight are being written by people with little electrical expertise, as the aircraft are being designed. But finally, this spring, the Electric Sykjeep was allowed to fly under ‘experimental conditions’, and we reported its first test-flight in May. Since then, G-CLRR has completed a series of successful test flights at Old Buckenham.
Norfolk goes global
The project has now moved up a gear with three key developments. The first was presenting the plane at the Oshkosh Air Show in Wisconsin: the worlds’ biggest airshow. The Zenith airframe is well established in the USA, but this was the first time an electric version was on show. Although it was not licenced to fly there, people could see videos of the Norfolk test flights.
There was a lot of interest from potential purchasers and NUNCATS now has a waiting list of prospective customers. Sixty percent of these are hobby fliers, and the plan is to use the profits from this market to subsidise sales to aid agencies. For hobbyists, the attraction is a quieter version of a familiar aircraft, with much lower running costs. Together with Norfolk solar firm RenEnergy, NUNCATS has also designed and built a solar charging station, which they can also sell to customers.
The flat pack plane
The trip to Wisconsin has also tested another part of the business model. They have demonstrated that the plane can be dismantled in less than a day, packed in a crate, and shipped by airfreight to anywhere in the world. It can take less than a day for someone with limited engineering expertise to reassemble it. It is also possible for NUNCATs to sell the electrical kit to enthusiasts who are building the airframe themselves (as many do now with conventional engines).
Where next?
Although the driving motivation for the NUNCATS project is the needs of NGOs in developing countries, it is also appealing to educators who want to introduce students to the cutting edge of aviation engineering, and to hobby fliers who are looking for a cheap and environmentally-friendly way to fly. Progress is happening on all three fronts.
Negotiations are underway to put a first Electric Skyjeep into operation with an aid agency in Senegal. NUNCATS is also talking to the University of Kathmandu in Nepal. Both are places where light aircraft flight can dramatically reduce travelling time for aid workers. In Uganda they have identified a chain of locations where solar charging stations are available, enabling a Skyjeep to travel considerable distances in a series of short hops.
The next challenge is to scale up NUNCATS. Like many start-up firms, the groundwork has been laid by a single enthusiast with expertise and the ideas, supported by a group of friends, and a growing network of people who have contributed knowledge, contacts and money. NUNCATS now knows how to build the plane, and apprentices at the Norwich Aviation Academy have been working with Tim to build a second one. So, there are keen newly-qualified apprentices as potential workers, expertise in what to do, and how to train people to do it. And there is space at Old Buckenham to build more planes.
But there is some work still to do before NUNCATS can begin serious production, and the price for educators and hobby-users has still to be fixed. So, at Oshkosh, potential buyers were paying a small refundable deposit to book a place in the queue for delivery of the electric power packs when the final specification is fixed. Since the Zenith airframe is designed to be ‘home’ built, some of those people are already starting work, so that the engine and batteries can be added when ready. And Tim hopes to have a Skyjeep in the air at Oshkosh next year.
But delivering planes to meet the orders from Oshkosh and for piloting with aid agencies will require more people, and more money. In the next year NUNCATS faces some of the classic challenges of innovative start up companies: how to scale up from a brilliant idea and a handful of people to something much more structured.
This is a world first for Norfolk, and potentially a way to improve the lives of thousands of people in the developing world. We wish him well.
You can see Tim Bridge’s interview with the CEO of Zenith at Oshkosh here.
Stephen McNair is one of the supporters who has helped fund the NUNCATS project
