e-flight-journal-aero-special-2018-small

Cover Market Story Watch
THE FUTURE VERSION OF SPORTSTAR
Sportstar EPOS
TThe electric aviation project Pure Flight from the Czech
Republic will celebrate its premiere at the AERO and the
2018 e-flight-expo. At the fair, the project will present the
electric aircraft EPOS, an electric version of the Sportstar
from the manufacturer of Evektor. Evektor was one
of the first companies to set up an electric version of its
Sportstar model more than three years ago. Because
of the well-known weight problem, Evektor chose the
EPOS electric version to comply with not the UL but the
LSA standard, which weighs 600 kg. The higher takeoff
weight offered the option of higher battery payload and
associated longer flight time.
The sports star EPOS was one of the first electrified
ULs. The motor drive unit (below) is from MGM Compro
ELSA-THE CZECH APPROACH
Evektor was fortunate that the company is based in the
Czech Republic, because the local UL association LAA,
which - as in Germany DAeC and DULV - on behalf of
the government manages the ultralight, anticipated the
600-kg UL class back in 2011, and set up a national experimental
class with 600 kg takeoff weight called ELSA.
This class is currently limited only to the Czech Republic,
but it could be a key advantage in the electric aircraft,
because today with the Phoenix, the EPOS and
the SL400 E there are already three e-planes in this class
which are approved. Since the approval is based on UL
approval and the approval requirement is based on the
ASTM rules, it will probably be possible to adopt these
machines in the new 600 kg UL category as soon as it
is established. The EPOS project goes back to an initiative
of the company Evektor, which also obtained support
from the Czech Republic Technology Promotion AG
TACR.
The RE REB 90-5 liquid-cooled motor, as with most
Czech projects, comes from the manufacturer Rotex,
the engine and battery control unit are from MGM Compro.
The aircraft can be equipped with two battery units
with two batteries each. Each individual battery consists
of 45 lithium-polymer cells. The motor control pilot interface
was developed by Brno University of Technology
together with AEROworks. The engine has a peak
output of 100 hp and a continuous output of 75 hp and
12 e Flight Journal
1 / 2018