Interesting the FAA has that N number listed as this plane, "Type Aircraft, Glider".

shenanigans61

Wow, that looks way awesome. My friend back home has had a series of ultralights and he loves them.

FightingChance

Batterly? What?

JDisnidiet

60 cents to charge for up to 180 miles of flight? Sounds like these might become pretty popular among green fliers.

P3nnst8r has returned on the Graces of Brian Ashcraft

Dear Jesus,
Please add some lightweight solar panels to my plane so I can fly FOREVER! Amen.

GarciaConcern

60 cents to charge it...at the commonly-used rate of 10 cents per kilowatt hour, that comes out to 6 kilowatt hours.

If it flies for 90 minutes to use up that 6 kilowatt hours stored in the batteries, then the engine used an average of 4 kilowatts output power...or about 5.5 horsepower.

Holy cow...if a 6 horsepower engine can have me cheaply flying to and from work, why the hell do we even use cars? Why are there parking lots? There should be landing strips. Goodbye, foreign oil!

EQC

@GarciaConcern:

++ yes please!

bsutton

@GarciaConcern: @bsutton: Solar panels are usually heavy

SkipBlue

I'm in love.

SinAmos

we should use these for travel LOL

CharitableNinja

@JDisnidiet: He mean it's powered in a batter-like manner, or in other words, powered by a method similar to the way in which batter is powered.

Killjoy

Wow Pow has some video of this [wow-pow-blog.blogspot.com]

They say fying times with the largest battery pack are 1 hour 30 minutes and with soaring times a bladder busting 5 hours! Prices for the largest Lithium Ion battery pack is $8500, the propulsion kit (18 HP engine & electronic speed control) is $4200, and the charger is $895. For those who do not know airplanes these prices are bargains compared to 20-50k it costs for certified reciprocating engines. The most amazing part is the TBO on the Electric motor is 100,000 hours or 50-100 x longer than any standard gas powered engine

glowplug

Seems to be easier and less expensive if you just hooked a giant latex balloon to it and let the plane climb to a nice high altitude before cutting the wire. Bet you would get crazy glide distance that way.

aeroworks

I'm impressed, but also perplexed; since this is considered a glider, is this engine setup actually capable of powering the plane in takeoff, or is it just to intended for cruising/getting back to soaring altitude? If it's capable of takeoff, that's pretty great; I've always been drawn to gliders but haven't really liked the fact that they require a tow to get up in the air. I suppose even if it can't handle takeoff it's nice to have some power when you're up there to be able to stay up longer and find the nice thermals, and it's probably safer too.

weatherman

I got to see this fly at the Oshkosh airshow last weekend. The craziest thing about it is its COMPLETELY silent. the announcer had the crowd hush before it flew over, it was almost creepy. thats a huge huge factor in airplanes being able to fly into populated areas.

Another thing worth checking out is this cirus "personal jet" they introduced. they claimed it got similar gas mileage to a large SUV. Which apparently speaks to the efficiency of the plane, and not the absurdly shit ratings of modern large SUV's

TheDude06

It takes off like a normal plane, under its own power. afaik the FAA has many categories of powered devices that qualify as gliders.

TheDude06

How is battery performance in the winter? Would it be possible/feasible/desirable to have a small gas emergency backup just in case of pilot error? What are the extended costs, including battery replacement and engine servicing?

I'm not trying to pooh-pooh this at all. I'm actually very intrigued. The ElectraFlyer Trike would scare the hell out of me (I'm deathly afraid of high open places so being 500 feet up in a bike seat would give me a heart attack), but the Flyer looks like it has all the necessary parts to really pop open the (somewhat rich) enthusiast market.

My folks have a place down in the Outer Banks - the true birthplace of powered flight - and there are few things cooler than the thought of tooling around in a glider powered by a small motor while looking down on the dunes of Kitty Hawk.

OMG! Ponies! Amazing Bacon Drinks

@TheDude06: thanks for clarifying that.

Please move ElectraFlyer C from "meh" to "want" column.

weatherman

One of the major recurring costs of small planes is the cost of maintaining the engine, and this plane does away with that completely, not to mention the lack of vibration would put less strain on the airframe and the pilots ears.

The next step would be to add the capability to recharge the battery by having the motor work as a generator when you are gliding. If you found a mountain or cliff with a good updraft, or a good thermal you could recharge for a couple of hours and then power off to the next one.

macrumpton

Could there be work done into integrating photovoltaic into the craft? Not necessarily cover the tops of the wings, but a few strips just to add a little juice.

Also, how much roadway is needed for takeoff? Could there be a tow point for assisted takeoff using an SUV?

OMG! Ponies! Amazing Bacon Drinks

I wonder how well it can hold against a head wind and/or a side wind? You don't want to lose power just because the wind changes direction on you. That could hurt... (at at 18hp, I don't think you have the power to prevent a stall.)

froggy

Does it have regenerative diving? That would be super cool.

Tysto

Wonder if anyone made an electric helicopter. By the way for those who know about aircrafts: which is more efficient Aeroplanes or Helicopters?

I am asking this because it looks like it would take less skill to take off a helicopter than an aeroplane.

ggvrsn

@froggy: By definition, a head wind wouldn't induce a stall. I am assuming, given that this is a glider, that it's well behaved near stall speed, and that stall speed is around 35kts or so. A 15kt headwind would help induce lift, not a stall. (I am using stall in the aerodynamic sense, not the "engine quits" sense, which is not a stall at all.) The more likely stall scenario is in steep banking or a strong tailwind. But I imagine the plane would drop a 100 feet or so and then regain lift.

One other thing--it takes a lot less skill to get an airplane off the ground than a helicopter. Most flight sim players could get a piston plane off the ground. Land it? That's something else.

DangerousLiberal

@ggvrsn: An airplane is MUCH more efficient at moving people from point A to point B. You'll burn twice as much gas in a helicopter than an equivalent plane.... And helicopters are harder to fly than planes. That's one of the reasons why you see more planes flying than helicopters.

rshettle

Sounds like a great idea but it needs to be fleshed out more...I mean 120 minutes at 90mph? You can do that in a car. If they could increase the flight time per charge and get the speed up, this would be a great invention...but it's definitely a good start.

bobx3

Airplanes can be much more efficient than cars, your using the natural power of the wind a lot to propel you forward. Even though there's wind resistance, because your not touching land there's no rolling resistance. There are subs that can move slowly through the water just by opening/closing bladders to sink and float.

Perhaps the airline industry could take note of this.

toyotaboy

I think the quietness could be a huge factor. That and the utter reliability and simplicity of electric motors. I've always thought that battery powered airplanes were a longshot, but the lack of maintenance and simplicity may mean that electrics actually become cheaper than gas powered. And can you imagine when fast charge, cheaper lithium batteries get popular? Within two years we will see decent size lithium battery packs in hybrid or plug-in hybrid cars, and that will mean true mass production and they will be getting cheaper fast.

Eventually this may goad the conventional engine manufacturers into actually producing quiet engines. Do people realize that aircraft basically have no mufflers? It's ridiculous.

ArtInvent