Chinese made electric airplane Yuneec

I am a pilot and actually saw one of these flying at hollister airport last month.

http://yuneeccouk.site.securepod.com/Aircraft.html

Pretty amazing aircraft. 2 seater...a 2 hour flight will cost you 3 dollars in electricity. To fly my cessna for 2 hours will cost 120 in gasoline.

This new electric plane only flys around 60 mph but seems perfect as a joy flyer or a trainer...not really good for getting there.

Made in china, this plane is china's first serious swing at general aviation...and it seems with rising fuel costs they might be hittting it out of the park since this is the closest to an affordable electric cessna to be certified by the FAA. It will be certified as a sport light aircraft...meaning you cant fly it at night, and cant fly for hire.

The projected price is $89,000.

This same company is also selling some pretty sweet electric paragliding and ultralight set ups...

China is really taking over...once they get there teeth in aviation...yikes

They are taking over cause North A has been relying on patents to lock down and stall development for the last 70 some years. china don't give a crap about NA patents and thus will reclaim it's position in the world of 800 some years ago.

Good point on the patents...

i was just thinking of cost of labour etc.

They are stealing everyone's technology...at this rate they will take over very quickly.

If they're stealing patents they shouldn't be allowed to bring these products into the country. Where is the oversight committee?

~KF

They are taking over cause North A has been relying on patents to lock down and stall development for the last 70 some years. china don't give a crap about NA patents and thus will reclaim it's position in the world of 800 some years ago.

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Amen brother. The last 10 to 15 years of US policy on Intellectual property has been particularly absurd. Patenting software? (ie, in addition to copyright, the form of IP that is supposed to cover it)? extending the period of copyright for an additional 100 years beyond the death of the author? applying the 301 trade process for developing countries that dare to violate US patents, so that their own people can get access to life saving medicines that they aren't otherwise going to buy?

The US's use of IP has made its industrial military complex look like a bunch of hippy pussies. And for the record I hate Hippys - but I love pussies...

Intellectual property was created as a concept not to reward hard work or investment, but to facilitate the fluid and efficient dissemination of information and scientific discovery.

I say go you pirating Chinese (as long as you keep buying Aussie rocks to make that stuff - otherwise I will be poor and unemployed, like all those unfortunate Americans....)

Hope the plane is more reliable than my ebikes though. You can't walk your plane home like I have done my ebike many times....

EDIT: I just noticed the name, is it really called the "Yuneek"? Man the Chinese might now how to pirate an egg,


[youtube]T55tz4qwFMo[/youtube]


But damn they can't make up product names to save themselves. In Australia they have released a car brand called "Great Wall", since when did you name a car after a man made wonder? Would you buy a "Leaning Tower of Pisa"?

Great Article in the July 2011 article of Sport Aviation magazine called "A Yuneek Flying Experience"

40 kw brushless motor with 36 cell kokam pack

Lots of other interesting stuff in the mag if you can get it, all about electric this month.

Not sure if this is going into production, I have tried contacting company with no success and their 4 place twin engine electric prototype crashed on takeoff killing the designer/test pilot which may be setting everything back?

@ Green Machine

Looks like a glider wing on that aircraft and the wing is behind the pilot which is great. Could be a fantastic aircraft if it could achieve 2 hours endurance and maybe 100 mph. Fast charging will be the crucial factor in time as approaching night fall or bad weather will mean that you can only fly out and back to your home field based on one charge.

Yamaha were showing off their new piano at a music expo, within a few hours a team of 4 Chinese engineers were measuring, taking photo's etc so that they can copy it lol.

A company called Behringer in Germany who owns a whole village in China for production prides itself on ripping off every musical item at a far lower quality.

Spacey said:

Yamaha were showing off their new piano at a music expo, within a few hours a team of 4 Chinese engineers were measuring, taking photo's etc so that they can copy it lol.

A company called Behringer in Germany who owns a whole village in China for production prides itself on ripping off every musical item at a far lower quality.

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Very interesting.

I love how "the prince" who by the way is a total spammer, breaks from his act to do a bit of indignation on the whole piracy part.

What it reminds me of, is the time that I got the auto-dialing guy calling me with the Indian Virus Scam call. http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=30582&hilit=+indian

I strung him along for ages, then abused him with a scream about how his mother had sucked my cock. He got so mad in response..... the humanity amongst his fraud was exquisite....

cmugler said:

Not sure if this is going into production, I have tried contacting company with no success and their 4 place twin engine electric prototype crashed on takeoff killing the designer/test pilot which may be setting everything back?

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The company is called Yuneec and not Yuneek.

The website is at www.yuneec.com which will be redeveloped in the coming months and some major announcements made.

The eSpyder and the e430 are in the final stages of getting FAI type approval. The factory is about as high tech as you can get, I am a UK expat and consulting to Yuneec and the entrepreneurial founder, Mr. Tian Yu is a very experienced engineer and pilot and I have nothing but admiration for what he has achieved. He was very deeply saddened by the death of the designer/test pilot which happened on the second test flight. God Bless Martin Wezel http://www.eaa.org/news/2011/2011-05-19_yuneec.asp

Sweet?

Lessss said:

china don't give a crap about NA patents and thus will reclaim it's position in the world of 800 some years ago.

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That being the role of the slave people of the Asian continent? The image of the Chinese man with a ponytail was created by the Mongol conquerors ordering them to make it easier for a Mongol to ride up and cut off their heads whenever the Mongols felt like it. They had quite a history of being overrun.

I see them more as following in the footsteps of such countries as Japan, doing a bad job of imitating others and kidding themselves about their great success. I think they have a long way to go to survive with the money and expertise of others. They have largely what they've been given; what happens when the giving stops? Or WILL the giving stop?

Dauntless said:

I see them more as following in the footsteps of such countries as Japan, doing a bad job of imitating others and kidding themselves about their great success. I think they have a long way to go to survive with the money and expertise of others. They have largely what they've been given; what happens when the giving stops? Or WILL the giving stop?

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>> giving
I don't see the giving aspect so much as I see the taking (although I fear we will veer OT). It certainly will be interesting to see how the future plays out. Hopefully cool heads will lead and there will not be wasteful battles over fishing islands and distant seabeds belonging to others. But then I guess that's like asking Argentina to give up on the Falklands.

Flog flog,KF

Kingfish said:

>> giving
I don't see the giving aspect so much as I see the taking (although I fear we will veer OT). It certainly will be interesting to see how the future plays out. Hopefully cool heads will lead and there will not be wasteful battles over fishing islands and distant seabeds belonging to others. But then I guess that's like asking Argentina to give up on the Falklands.

Flog flog,KF

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The giving I'm referring to is that the Chinese didn't initiate any of this. The U.S., Europe, Japan, all went over there and built the factories, trained the workers, paid for it all. And continue to. The TAKING I perceive as miniscule in comparison to A123 basically giving away their technology by setting up the factory where the Chinese bootleg right out of there with A123 equipment and resources, really more of them being given rather than taking.

I think China still has a long way to go to be the robber barons they aspire to be. Such a low aspiration that I doubt can make them all that big. If the big companies grow some brains about pull out, China can't stand on its' own two legs. I'm wondering what will happen when the outside world stops propping them up. Or if the outside world ever will, even with all the harm they're doing.

Ah, gotcha - on the same page now
Thanks, KF

http://www.gizmag.com/greenwing-espyder/28565/
http://greenwing.aero/
only $40k....(that's 4 stealth bombers)

The eSpyder is a compact little flyer, measuring 5.9 m (19.4 ft) nose to tail, standing 2.4 m (7.9 ft) high with a wingspan of 10.1 m (33.1 ft). Empty, the eSpyder weighs 186 kg (410 lb).

It's propelled by a 24 kW (32 hp) motor powered by a 13-kWh onboard lithium battery. GreenWing says that the eSpyder's custom charging system monitors the health of the battery in order to achieve the best performance possible.

According to GreenWing's figures, the eSpyder can cruise at speeds of up to 68 mph (109 km/h), though to optimize efficiency it can cruise in economy mode at 38 mph (61 km/h). Standard flight times fall between 60 and 90 minutes. Recharging the battery takes 2 to 3 hours.

The company will ship 25 eSpyders in the United States at a cost of US$39,990. Another 25 will be sold in Europe for €34,990 each. In Germany, the eSpyder has been DULV certified, making it the first electric aircraft to be certified at a national level.

The company says that it has limited the initial run in order to ensure "outstanding service" for customers. The company is aiming to deliver the kits before the end of the year.

GreenWing International is a spin-off of Yuneec to focus on the electric aircraft developed by that company, including the eSpyder and e430.

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