Will Require 10 Percent Of The Fleet To Be Electric By 2025

ANN April 1 Special Edition

The EPA will require ten percent of the GA fleet to be solar- or electric-powered by 2025, according to a source within the agency.

"Advances in electric power are coming in leaps and bounds," said the source, who was not authorized to speak to the media. "There is already an electric car mandate, and extending that into aviation seemed to be a natural evolution. With the successful tour of Solar Impulse last summer, and the demonstrations of electric airplanes at Oshkosh, the time for electric airplanes has come."

The industry reacted negatively to the proposal. GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce said that the industry is nowhere near being ready to start making the shift to electric powerplants. "We know there have been great strides made in electric-powered aircraft," Bunce said, "But a lot of that work is being done overseas. The U.S. industry has made great strides in increasing the efficiency of powerplants, and this is just another government mandate that will eventually end up costing the industry billions of dollars in research and development. Basically, they're asking the impossible."

EAA Chairman Jack Pelton agreed, saying that "electric power is a novelty at this point. Even our members are not gravitating towards electric power for even the smallest of EA-B airplanes. The EPA has plenty on its plate to deal with before getting involved in mandating such sweeping changes to the industry."

FAA Administrator Michael Huerta put his head on his desk and sighed. "We already have such a certification backlog ... and now we're going to have to shift resources to trying to get electric powerplants certified? Really?"

House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) vowed protracted hearings concerning the mandate. "It's another EPA overreach that is a job-killer," Smith said. "We'll get to the bottom of this before the session is out."

FMI: www.epa.gov