General aviation's future with electric powerplants is not yet concrete, but the cement is beginning to set.
With avgas out of favour due to the lead content and its fossil base, developers, regulators and governments are increasingly turning towards electric power to drive GA aeroplanes. It's cleaner on consumption, has zero emissions and, realistically, is probably the only alternative when you consider the airlines are going to demand almost 100% of the world's sustainable aviation fuel capacity and then some.
But everything in aviation takes a long time to develop, which is why Slovenian manufacturer Pipistrel started years ago. Its electric power program was impressive enough to attract the attention of GA giant Textron, which opened its cheque book in March 2022 and bought the company from founder Ivo Boscarol.
The move bought them into the LSA and glider markets, but it was really the electric power program they were after.
Pipistrel President and Managing Director Gabriel Massey told Australian Flying that Textron got everything they were hoping for.
"Textron was really interested in electrification; it's something that a lot of industries are going to. Pipistrel with the Velis Electro has the only certified electric aircraft in the world, so that makes them a leader in electric aviation. Textron got to know Pipistrel, and what we discovered was not only the Velis Electro, but also the technology around batteries and battery management systems.
"There was also a line-up of product that was complementary to the Cessna and Beechcraft brands: gliders, two-seat trainers, the Velis Electro and four-seat high-performance aircraft. There was also a very talented and innovative workforce, and all of that made it a very nice match for Textron.
"Since then we've grown the team size, and with the resources that Textron brings we're able to accelerate new product development."
Although Pipistrel has the only certified electric aircraft in the world with the Velis Electro, Massey understands the aircraft doesn't represent the end game, but is more of a stepping-stone and learning platform not only for Textron, but also the wider GA community.
"One thing we understand from a sustainability perspective is that GA will have an impact," he believes. "It's a great way to start adopting and learning from a smaller scale, so every time we deliver a Velis Electro to a new customer, the amount of learning for that eco-system is immense.
"The first-responders are learning, the airports are asking about the kind of infrastructure needed. This is not just a future discussion; a Velis has arrived. It's not a Caravan or an Airbus, but the questions are similar. The Velis has been driving learning for future electric all over the world, whether that's larger aeroplanes or eVTOLs, and I think that's important."
Pipistrel developed the Velis Electro as a trainer, conscious that its one-hour endurance limits it too much to be considered a practical aircraft for touring. They have greater ambitions for larger, more versatile aircraft, but understand that means more complex systems and something very different from the Velis Electro.
"At the moment we believe that purely electric aviation is going to be important in the 2-4-seat range. We know it can be done; training and FAR 23 style aeroplanes can be fully electric," Massey said.
"When you start to get larger than that, our strategy is that we will need hybrid technology; an alternate method of energy creation. It could be hydrogen, it could be small turbine generators running SAF.
"You'll still have an electric propulsion system, still have a battery storage system ... all the things that we will be learning about from smaller aeroplanes will be scalable to larger aeroplanes. But we will need some form of alternate energy creation; batteries alone won't be enough."
Nor will the current classic Pipistrel airframe be enough. The smooth, aerodynamic airframe that has underpinned several of the company's models including the Virus LSA, Sinus and the certified Explorer is just about at the end of its development limit, and won't carry the electric future much further. For that, Massey is looking towards a new airframe.
"The structure of the Velis/Virus has a weight limitation that will get us to a certain point, and we know that it will stay as a two-seat trainer for a long time," he explained.
"We believe that in order to get to a private aeroplane in the C172 Skyhawk category we'll need a different aeroplane to the current Virus SW design. Clean sheet or not, or utilising another aeroplane, we'll need something different or bigger. The technology is not actually that far off for us to do it.
"We already understand what that will be. At Pipistrel we already have a lot of priorities and programs that mean we have to manage resources and investment, and there needs to be the demand signals that it would be the right thing to do. We need to understand the voice of customers: what type of aeroplane will it look like?
"We have a strategy to go there and understand what it will take."
In the meantime, Pipistrel. Textron and the entire GA community continues to learn from the Velis Electro. With more than 100 airframes in operation, the school is large and is contributing significantly towards cementing GA's electric future.