US-based Bye Aerospace has rebranded its family of electric aircraft from ‘Sun Flyer’ to ‘eFlyer’ to more accurately represent the aircraft’s high-tech all-electric propulsion system.

George E Bye, company founder (and CEO), said: “We originally thought that solar cells would be standard on the aircraft’s wings, but with eFlyer’s primary markets being flight training and air taxi services, it makes more sense to make the price of the aeroplane as reasonable as possible.”

The eFlyer family of aircraft, including the two-seat eFlyer 2 and the four-seat eFlyer 4, is intended to be the first FAA-certified all-electric aircraft to serve the flight training and general aviation markets.

To date, Bye Aerospace has received 298 customer commitments, including a recent decision by Norway-based OSM Aviation Academy to purchase 60 eFlyer 2s.

Norway’s Elfly AS has committed to buying 18 eFlyers. CEO Eric Lithun said: “Bye Aero-space has a strong team, and I think it will be the first company to mass-produce a FAR 23-and EASA 23-certified all-electric aeroplane.

This is the ‘game changer’ for small aircraft; the Bye Aerospace eFlyer will be the Tesla of the general aviation industry.”

Bye Aerospace is working with Garmin’s engineering team on an integrated flight display for the eFlyer 2, while Siemens will provide electric propulsion systems for the aircraft.