Yuneec

 

By contrast, the Shanghai-built Yuneec (pronounced "unique") e430 is a more conventional two-seat light sport aircraft. It's equipped with battery packs that can keep it in the air for the better part of 90 minutes, and is designed only to fly around for as long as the juice lasts. So you won't have enough time in the air to get very far? Big deal, says managing director Clive Coote: "The idea is just to go up and have fun." It's easy to understand Coote's enthusiasm for electric power: Last year aviation gasoline hit a punishing $5 a gallon. And with global warming on everyone's mind, electricity-powered flying is definitely appealing. But how thrilling can electric flying be? Batteries are always going to hold less energy than an equivalent weight of gas, so electric planes are either going to be comparatively underpowered, short-legged, or both.