Elektra One flies

[Dr Mordrid]

The German Elektra Ond electric aircraft has flown -

EAA....

German 'Elektra One' Aircraft Makes First Flights

March 31, 2011 — The Elektra One, a single-seat, electric-powered aircraft from German company PC-Aero, made its first flight on March 19 at the Airport Augsburg, Germany, then flew an extended, 30-minute flight around the patch four days later, March 23. PC-Aero claims the aircraft will provide more than three hours flight endurance with a range of more than 400 kilometers (about 250 miles).

Jon Karkow, well-known test pilot, was at the controls for the first flight and said the aircraft was stable and had good control and landing characteristics. Karkow flew to an altitude of 500 meters (1,640 feet) at a climb rate of 400 fpm. Norbert Lorenzen was pilot of the March 23 flight.
Calin Gologan, PC-Aero CEO and developer of the Elektra, commented, “Our expectations have been exceeded. We are overjoyed.”

The electric drive system, including a 13.5-kilowatt (continuous) brushless electric motor (16-kilowatt maximum power), controller, battery management, and three-blade propeller comes from Geiger Engineering of Germany. The airframe is made from lightweight composites and weighs in at 100 kilograms empty, including the motor. The landing gear is a single, center wheel. The aircraft will soon get a new variable pitch propeller and a retractable gear.
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[VJ]

I'm very curious to see how these developments will play out. There are a couple of electric airplanes emerging (Yuneec E430, Sonex (Waiex), Green Cri, Electravia (Electra), Lisa Hybird - the first 4 have all made a maiden flight, and IIRC, the first two will be on the market soon).

Maintenance costs are said to be much lower, which for current light aircraft (both LSA and light general aviation) is the big issue. I just wonder how/if they solve the charge time. Now you can fly long distance by just having a fuel stop (takes give or take 45 minutes - one hour with all the time you loose to get in the circuit and fuel up). With an electric plane, it seems impossible to recharge it in such short time... So how can you fly multiple legs in one day?

Jörg

[Umfriend]

Just like they did in the old days with horses, you don't let them rest (=recharge), you change horse (=plane).

[VJ]

That might be ok for commercial applications (although transferring passengers and luggage costs time and is a bit of a hassle), but for private aircraft it is quite different. Doing so would make it more resemble car sharing rather than car ownership. Exchanging batteries seems like a viable alternative, but then they need to be standardized.

[Dr Mordrid]

Work on electric aircraft here is progressing on multiple fronts -

• standardized swap-able battery modules, not unlike the Better Place system being developed for cars. Land, swap, take off.

• hybrid-electric aircraft & airships

• superconducting electric turbines to replace turbofans

- microturbine superconducting generators
- superconducting electric motors
- fuel cells (hydrogen & methane)
Etc.

Before you giggle at superconducting generators & motors, recent advances are making such hardware affordable, very light and much smaller - small enough for superconducting generators to fit in a trash can, and soon a beer keg. This could put a 100+ kW FEL combat laser in an F-35 or chopper. Not small enough for general aviation, but cheap enough to replace the turbine engine in turbofans (leaving only the bypass as a ducted fan) in large aircraft.

NASA, GE Aviation, Georgia Institute of Technology and others have ongoing programs. 5% of emissiins being from aircraft is the stimulus.

Example -

[Evildead666]

5% fo emissiins being from aircraft is the stimulus.

Um, What ?

Looks yer like brain went and did something else for a few seconds lol

[Dr Mordrid]

5% fo emissiins being from aircraft is the stimulus.

Um, What ?

As in; the stimulus for all the activity is aircraft being 5% of emissions. The US does have regional dialects that show in sentence structure, but also little things like using 2 spaces between sentences etc. Especially the Midwest.