A COMPANY in Stroud are trying to build the first high performance, battery powered racing aircraft.

Electroflight based in Brimscombe have been working on the aircraft for nearly six years.

The team is led by Roger Targett, who has previously been involved with Red Bull air racing, has driven the project through his passion for green energy and fuel efficient transport.

Roger said: “Airline pollution is going up and that’s where electric planes can change that.

“Electric planes do not require oxygen and this makes them far less dangerous than petrol planes, however they would have 10 times more power than solar.

"The biggest problem facing electric planes is the weight of the battery, technology is so advanced now that charging the battery isn’t really an issue and there’s the potential to charge it ahead of time.”

The design of the plane has been completed but due to lack of funding Roger and his team cannot get the plane in the air.

Roger said: “If we had the funding I could get it flying in about a year but at the moment we simply do not have the money.

Roger and his co-worker Nick Sills believe that electric planes are the future and are hoping to capture the world’s attention.

“Planes are a bit like mobile phones, competition drives technology, I would love to create an electric aircraft race series.

“That would be something special.”

When they finally get the aircraft running Roger is very keen to do the first flight from Gloucester Airport.

“I have a friend who is very supportive of what we are trying to do and he is eager for the first flight to be from Gloucester.”

For more information on Electroflight visit: https://www.facebook.com/Electroflight/