The “electric sky Jeep” is out to prove that clever engineering and proven ideas can trump novelty every time.
It’s called “NUNCATS,” which stands for, “No Unnecessary Novelty Community Air Transport Services,” a somewhat pointed dig at all the recent investment into eVTOL aircraft coming to market which claim to be able to support programs like Doctors Without Borders, but which are still reliant on largely unproven tech.
The NUNCATS, meanwhile, is all about proven tech, and the team behind it, working out of Old Buckenham Airfield in south Norfolk, England, is proving the concept, too, by installing chargers to power its aircraft — which began as a Zenith CH750 kit — using existing infrastructure in a way that, the company claims, could be easily implemented elsewhere.
“Nobody else is building electric aircraft in this way,” explains NUNCATS cofounder Tim Bridge. “Our aim is to provide a low-cost, rugged and practical aircraft for use in rural and hard to reach communities, such as medics in Uganda and doctors in rural India … we hope to move towards getting this into communities where it can make a real difference. There are currently a billion people in the world with no access to healthcare, 5000 people will die because of that just today. This can be a genuine life-saver.”
This utilitarian electric aircraft is built on a bushcraft frame that’s capable of extremely short take offs and landings, which means it doesn’t need a conventional airstrip to land or take off from — just some open, more or less level space.
The NUNCATS prototype made its maiden flight earlier this month, which you can check out for yourself, below. Then let us know what you think of this ultralight EV flier in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
NEBOAir/NUNCATS Demonstration Flight
SOURCE | IMAGES: NUNCATS, VIA ELECTREK.
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