How long before emission-free air travel becomes a reality?

When a one-person plane powered purely by electricity took to the skies above the village of Little Snoring, it was a remarkable achievement in British engineering.

The maiden voyage of the first allelectric light aircraft designed and built in the UK could herald the beginning of a new zero-emissions aerospace manufacturing industry. But its victory lap didn’t last long.

The plane was up for just 33 minutes above the airfield in Norfolk, before it came back down for a recharge.

The all-electric microlight aeroplane could last up to 90 minutes on full charge “on paper”, according to Guy Gratton, an associate professor of aviation, who piloted the Sherwood eKub. The plane was manufactured by The Light Aircraft company and built by a British-based consortium led by Gratton.

It is a major achievement in the race to establish emission-free air travel, which the UK Government has backed with its Jet Zero Council. But the size of batteries needed to go a significant distance which means the technology is limited to very short-haul domestic flights, Gratton said.

“Everybody who is knowledgeable is sceptical about what we can deliver,” he acknowledged. “What we’ve got is slower, lower performing, heavier and less capable than an aeroplane with a conventional engine. If you want to hop between Scottish islands, for instance, I think that will happen reasonably quickly, perhaps within 10 years.”

“But with the big jets going a long way, I can’t see this tech working. They simply need a higher energy density.”