more photos at the link.
Plug and Fly: The Battery-Powered Plane Makes Its Debut
By Dave Demerjian August 05, 2008 | 10:05:28 AMCategories: Air Travel, Batteries, Electric Vehicles
Take your everyday metal moni motoglider, trick it out with a custom battery pack and you've got the ElectraFlyer C, a small electric airplane that debuted at the AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, last week.
The plane, which received its airworthiness certificate in April, features a 5.6 kWh lithium battery with a projected life cycle (the number of times it can be depleted and recharged) of 1,000 cycles. The battery has a max weight of 78 pounds and can be custom-built to fit the available space in an airplane. It provides juice for a motor driving a 45-inch superlight PowerFin propeller made of a foam core surrounded by an outer shell of carbon fiber and glass fabric.
Once in the air, the ElectraFlyer C cruises at 70 miles per hour. Top speed is 90 mph and the stall speed is 45. The plane can fly for 90 to 120 minutes before the battery needs recharging. When the battery winds down, just plug it into a 110V outlet -- your house is full of them -- and you're good to go in just more than six hours. Bump the voltage to 220 and you're flying again in two hours.
The people at Electric Aircraft Corporation say the small plane carries some big benefits. The motor is nearly silent, which means no earplugs for pilots, and brings the potential for flying into new sites. And then there's the a dramatic improvement in what the company calls "neighbor relations" -- no droning engines to drive them nuts. Electric motors don't produce a lot of soot or pollution, and overhauls are a snap. And by combining this motor with the ElectraFlyer's slow turning propeller, you've got a flight that is practically vibration free.
But the most compelling sell is an economic one: The company estimates that "refueling" the plane with a full charge of the battery will cost, on average, a whopping sixty cents.
Photos courtesy Electric Aircraft Corporation
It's all fun and games till you crash it
It's all fun and games until a wing falls off.the cool thing is that it's a glider that happens to have an electric motor. although i'm sure its glide ratio isn't as good as a dedicated glider it still should be able to be landed sans power.
glider or plane, you can still fly it into the groundthe cool thing is that it's a glider that happens to have an electric motor. although i'm sure its glide ratio isn't as good as a dedicated glider it still should be able to be landed sans power.
sweet. i'm still seriously considering picking an Enertia up when they finally come to market, and if you could get me employee pricing... :biggrin:I just sent my resume to http://www.brammo.com for Linux Admin. Not my forte, but it would be a sweet company to work for!
In case people forget what they make:
I haven't heard back, but I hope to soon. I would for sure hook you up, but you should know that much.
"With 50" wheels I made myself out of tinfoil and ornaments."
Tesla plans on launching all-electric city cars in 2010 in collaboration with several manufacturers, reports the UK’s Car Online. The experience and know-how Tesla gathered from the development of its Roadster (seen above) is playing out well in its mission to become more than just an independent car company—in fact, it appears Tesla will become something more like a Tier 1 supplier as well as a manufacturer.
The small city vehicles likely won’t be sold under the Tesla name, but will appear badged by those manufacturers with which the company has a partnership. It’s likely we’ll hear about Tesla’s role in the development of these vehicles, or perhaps see badging to that effect somewhere on them (or inside them). CAR reports that this new platform of small cars will have less in the way of range than Tesla’s own Roadster—227 miles when fully charged—and will be priced at a premium to other small vehicles.
It’s a busy time at Tesla. In addition to the recent launch of their Roadster, the company is hard at work on their “Model S ,” which has been described as either a sports sedan or a five-door hatchback.
I remember reading something on this one a while back, I like the idea. I'd love to swap a small modern turbo diesel in my little toyota pickup.
a mini-review of the ZeroX e-mx bike. street version next year, supposedly:
Autocar quotes unnamed "senior sources" saying Mazda is testing an electric car that uses a Wankel rotary engine to charge the battery. It's the same approach GM is taking with the Volt, which will feature a 1.4-liter gasoline engine and lithium-ion battery. Things are going so well for Mazda that it's got a prototype -- a modified a Mazda MPV -- undergoing road tests. Mazda's brass hats are inclined to produce the car but won't make a firm decision until battery costs come down. GM, on the other hand, is willing to lose its shirt on the Volt.
It was really noticeable when I was in London last month how many more people are riding than when I was there in 2005.
sweet. competition is good: let the PHEV wars begin!
why does the prototype *always* look way cooler than the production model?
plus it's a "mild hybrid" a la the current civic hybrid. can't run on electric juice alone for any distance. sad, even if it will be a good performer especially if it comes in at $18k.
Not bad looking for a F@rd, either.
