If I had the money I'd slap those solar cells (maybe $20k for 4kW) on this electric motor glider (~$150K): https://www.pipistrel-usa.com/taurus-electro/ https:/

If I had the money I'd slap those solar cells (maybe $20k for 4kW) on this electric motor glider (~$150K): https://www.pipistrel-usa.com/taurus-electro/ https://www.pipistrel-usa.com/taurus-electro/ also just nifty option, ardupilot supports autonomous thermaling now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwAX3cPvMqw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwAX3cPvMqw you could creating an autonomous piloting service that used a combination of thermal-hunting and solar-pv to dramatically cut the energy budget required of the batteries. edit: re-thinking your question, I think the real answer is "the entire kit market". In america the regulations allow for people to build their own planes under a certain weight, so companies get around that by selling "kits" that the buyer has to finish assembling themself. so most of the <$100k air "plane" market is already a lotus-like frame you can do stuff with. edit2: for instance, check out this absolute masterpiece of a website where you can buy an ANT-E kit: http://www.newmexicotrikes.com/ant/ant.html http://www.newmexicotrikes.com/ant/ant.html edit3: or this thing https://www.ruppert-composite.ch/en/ https://www.ruppert-composite.ch/en/