PC-Aero completes static tests on electric aircraft Elektra One; first flight this month
04 January 2011
PC-Aero, a German aircraft design, engineering and consulting company for general and business aviation, in December 2010 successfully performed the static tests on the 1-seat Elektra One prototype electric powered aircraft (earlier post) for German Ultralight Certification.
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| Static testing of the Elektra One. Copyright: DULV. Click to enlarge. |
The structure of the aircraft (wing, fuselage and tails) was loaded up to limit load.
In November 2010, PC-Aero performed the rollout of the electric airplane with running engine. This event took place at the Rotortec company in Görisried/Germany, where the aircraft is being prepared for first flight, which is scheduled for this month.
Elektra One, intended to be the first member of an electric aircraft family, was presented for the first time at the AERO 2010, The Global Show for General Aviation, in Friedrichshafen/Germany.
Private aircraft fuel/maintenance costs have nearly priced themselves out of the market. Inexpensive one moving part electric planes could save private flying.
Posted by: kelly | 04 January 2011 at 07:24 AM
Kelly may be right. Private electrified planes may have a bright future. Higher performance batteries/solar panels could eventually keep it in the air for hours/days. With millions of them in the air at the same time, they may represent a safety problem for larger commercial planes. Like todays erratic car drivers, erratic e-planes pilots will exist.
Posted by: HarveyD | 04 January 2011 at 08:07 AM
The sums don't really come out for electric flying based on current batteries. You really need the energy density of liquid HC fuels.
There are various enormous and highly fragile solar planes, but they would not be practical due to their size and low payload (for general flying): reconnaissance is a different matter.
The CriCri can fly for about 30 minutes before needing a new battery, but it needs a runway at both ends (!) so it is just another, small, slow private plane.
Hybridisation might help improve performance for small planes, larger ones are already very efficient and efficiency gains are of the order of 1-2% per year - witness the improvement of the A350 (or 787) over the A330 - after 20 years of the A330.
I would love to be surprised, but I do not expect to be.
Posted by: mahonj | 04 January 2011 at 11:12 AM
Electrified aircraft would certainly make for a QUIETER environment. And it would be nice to see more light, fixed wing aircraft hopping about without need for petrol-based fuels. But current battery technology is not up to the task. Maybe Lockheed's EE-Stor supercap will save the day.
Unfortunately the corporate jet industry continues to soar. The light there is the slow introduction of sustainable jet fuel.
Posted by: Reel$$ | 04 January 2011 at 01:31 PM
Flight training sessions are seldom over an hour per flight.
Batteries are already capable of several hours of flight per charge. http://green.autoblog.com/2010/08/12/first-lindbergh-electric-aircraft-prizes-recognizes-yuneec-sone/
http://yuneeccouk.site.securepod.com/Aircraft.html
Posted by: kelly | 04 January 2011 at 02:47 PM
Early e-planes endurance and payload will increase drastically (10x?) in the next 10 years. Don't forget that the endurance of the first ICE plane was on a few seconds.
Posted by: HarveyD | 05 January 2011 at 02:27 PM
There are about one dozen battery manned e-planes and solar e-planes currently flying. The first manned e-copter will be flying in 2011. These are their very early days. Performance will multiply in the next 10+ years. Imaging the day when most training planes will use quiet clean running e-planes. People living close to those airports will start to enjoy life.
Posted by: HarveyD | 05 January 2011 at 02:50 PM