Sonex Electric Powered Flight, EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2007

[GeorgeGearLoose]

They just talk, talk and talk, as always when some new genius way of transport are presentet. Just as the Sikorsky Firefly. I bet they do not even work. They are just showoffs.

[codydorman420]

now just add solar panels all on the whole top

[9493760]

I THINK A BRUSHED D.C. 24 VOLT MOTOR WITH GEARING, WOULD DO THE TRICK FOR A LOT FARTHER AND WITH LESS POWER.

GIANFRANCO FRONZI SEPTEMBER 

[seahorsecowboys]

FUCK EXXON !! WE REMEMBER ALL THE PEOPLE AND WILDLIFE THEY KILLED AND DAMAGE DONE TO OUR PLANT !!

[PhobiaGuy]

Dear God, all i could think was 'start it up and show me', and did you NOOOOOOO!!!

What is it about some people? sure i wanna know the specs, but for Christs sake, GIVE US THE DEMO!!!!!!!! Sometimes only a Biblical profanity will do, and i'm no believer!

[40joel]

They should have tried a more efficient platform like a quickie,

[automan1223]

what a waste of 5 mins. They did not even test run it or fly it.....

[Tjita1]

Okay, so flying two hours will actually take 26 hours. I think I will wait for the technology to improve a bit further...

[cardinaldriver]

That's a BIG in-runner! 270 volts@200 amps WOW!

[wayne11122000]

That is one AWESOME brushless motor. Oh the posibilities!

[XTwina]

Why does every new invention in transport look like a toy ? -.-

[drmodestoesq]

@XTwina What about Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose?

[thenewbasher]

put more batterys in the wings instead of putting fuel

[Imprez532]

interesting... how much costs a normal gasoline plane? how much costs this one?

[stefke72yamaha]

i'm gonna put that motor on my bike

[mikefigger]

You need to use a brushless out-runner motor. Much more power, swing a larger prop, less current draw. or run a gear drive. but less efficient.

[mecevans]

The motor and controller where built by an rc model airplane company.

[jdamage68]

Why dont you put another prop in the rear connecting to a generator to offset some of the power used? Something like a wind generator. Should get your run time to about 2 hrs. Or even better. Place a belt drive system under to prop attached to a generator of some sort. use the motor to make more power for ya. Like an alternator to provide a chargeing circuit like in your car. IF yo do this and make money I want my cut... :)

[ryank289]

@jdamage68 That wouldn't work because the airflow that would be driving the rear prop would be generated by the front propeller. So all its doing is taking the energy from the front prop and on top of that is adding drag. It would greatly decrease the efficiency of the plane.

[jerryaltman]

Even lithium baterry would not give a long autonomy to the plane.

[gwheyduke]

Why don't you show it flying ? I was very dissapointed! Does it , in fact fly at all?

[covingtonium]

no it doesnt fly its just modern art. ass.

[PercussivePercussion]

@covingtonium I was just there. This guy gave us a tour. and it CAN actually fly. It can be started up inside the building and spin at table fan speeds....it was pretty awesome. and quiet!

[mqbitsko3]

Oh, it'll fly. Briefly.

[Mastercorder]

That is a real neat little though and I think the electric is the future but the VW is for now and really cool !!!

[Mastercorder]

Be interesting to see how that pack and motor perform when hot I have seen a many dc motor controllers burn out the control circuit that must be a big silicon rectifier !

[MotorLab]

Has anyone flown one of these?

[stevecoterell9]

that thing runs on 4 AA batteries

[danthemanzizzle]

if we could put pure electrons in a box the size of a cat 0.o we could power that plane for 10 to the power of one hundren trillion eons..... 0.o

[freshyrocks]

But that's not how electricity works electrons aren't expended they just lose energy.

[niflap]

Good luck getting the electrons in the box

[danthemanzizzle]

well so far ive designed and completed preliminary testing on the em field i plan to "restrain" the electrons in a sphere as a box would be impossable once i finish my calculations i should be able to use the electrons to power the field as well as provide almost unlimited power to the consumer. on market by 12/21/12

[t850]

almost like a big toy ......so simple

[jorg243]

The power to weight ratio is incredible with this electric stuff.

[plank0wner]

A large version of an RC airplane. Let's see it fly.

[vintageflyer99879]

neat stuff!

[Alexvideoclip]

I can't wait to see a car with the same techology, I will be the first to buy it.

Our gas cars are 10 and 16 years old, but I refuse to buy a new gas car, I just hope they will not die until the first electric car mass production come out.

[Alexvideoclip]

Look for the Zippy-H batteries (blue).

[Alexvideoclip]

I paid $60 for a 5000mha 3cells battery hight quality (25-30c) , check Hobbycity

[boomtao]

Give this little plane more wing-surface so it can float more, make it lighter and cover it with solar-cells and you can increase mileage significantly!

[cptviolenc]

it said sonnex electric powered flight, but maybe i missed the actual footage of this crate flying. has anyone? ever/

[EETechs]

Should have used an induction motor instead..

[ikaros2006]

nothing is free...

[mxf7010g8k]

theres just no sutch thing as free energy

[mxf7010g8k]

well i mean that your still gunna have to pay for it unless u have it secretly in your backyard

[Alexvideoclip]

At first electric cars will be expensive, but in few years they will be much cheaper than gas car, because they are more simple (each wheel is a motor/break/generator) and all the mecanic will be gone (transmition, motor) I think that in 10 years you will get a good an electric car for 1/2 or todays gas cars.The also will be much lighter thant gas car. I can't wait to live that.

[EnigmaNZ1]

The electric car is cheap, the battery system is extremely expensive. But when you have to make up a 200+ volt plug battery pack from AA size cells, thats not surprising. When they make a custom sized battery specifically for automobile and electric aircraft use, then the price should drop hugely. The last time such a battery was made, the company was brought up by Chevron, and the plant dismantled and the battery killed off. It was used in the Rav4 electric.

[songswedo]

I agree. Just about every average family in the US with 2 or more cars should have an electric car. If we would stop sending so much of our resources to other countries (for the sake of oil), we would have the money back home to work on things like this.

[br1ancrowell]

It saddens me when I hear companies talk like this technology is new...It's not. It's been around for over several decades. GM even built electric cars (GM one) in the mid-90s. I help design Electric AC brushless motor based vehicles everyday! The battery technology is only getting better...I'm tired of big business snubbing the future out....

[rrr1sportrider]

This is going to be the new wave of the future. No more relying on foreign oil countries.

[Alexvideoclip]

And they tell us that they can't make electrics cars, sure...keep buying $4/gallon gas.

[LegendLength]

Maybe you should try googling 'electric car' numbnuts.

[Alexvideoclip]

I did not know Numbnuts make cars, I think Peugeot (famous french car make) is launching an electric car in Febuary.

[LegendLength]

From the first hit in google: "As of September 2008, the following electric cars can be ordered. CityEl Dynasty IT REVA The Kurrent ZENN Kewet Buddy Lightning GT Stevens Zecar Tesla Roadster Th!nk City Venturi Fétish"

[Alexvideoclip]

Yes, they are selling electric cars for more than 30 years (made from gas car).

What I mean is that the NEW Peugeot has desined electric from A to Z. Much more efficient, way more milage, lighter, safier.

[mikefigger]

whats the mah or ah rating on your batteries?

[mikefigger]

I could make an electric plane that would fly for hours. If I had the money lol!!!

[RWRamo]

I wonder what sort of range it would yeild with ultracap aditions? The video never stated what the storage specificaly was. Only a mildly descriptive figure pertaining to capacity.

[roidroid]

Given what he said (200 pound weight, 270 volt, 200 amp, 16 minute range @ full power) - the plane's battery works out to be about 0.57 MJ/kg, which is in the range of lithium ion batteries.

That's almost 30x as much energy density as ultracapacitors, so i'm not sure why you'd suggest them.

[LegendLength]

The advantage of ultracapacitors is that they can output a very large amount of electricity in a short time. The amount of energy they actually store is worse than lithium ion batteries.

[xXxDirtyBoixXx]

that's the current problem. battery power gives mere mins of flight time, and hours of recharge time. While conventional fuel offers hours of flight time, and only mins to refuel. And what can be done about Jet tech..bio-fuels perhaps?

[Charbax]

Does it fly?

[Alexvideoclip]

Same technology we use in RC airplanes.

[FisherAngel]

Electricity has no weight. Need lightweight battery to carry it. Once that is discovered (and gets around oil co suppression of alternative energies) then it will be viable. Until then think: The batteries are heavy and even when drained still have to be lugged around in the powerless plane. ...

[RighteousWrath]

The only problem with this is that, like he said the plane can only be airbourn for 1 hour or 16 mins for aerobataics, this renders it fairly useless considering it takes hours to recharge, whereas IC craft take minutes to refuel.

[roidroid]

A123's lithium ion batteries take mere minutes to charge. They're new and a bit expensive though.

[waiex29]

Where this aircraft will be unique from all other previous electric powered aircraft, is that the performance will be similar to that shown in the video response I've posted to this video thread. The "green" qualities of electric power are well-documented. Check out some of the "well to wheel" stats given by Tesla Motors, for example. For the full story about this project, see the press release on our web site!

[yzfdesert]

lets see the fucker fly

[Channel58]

Where do I find an extension cord at 10,00 feet?

[WatsonsVideos]

im not saying that an electric motor doesn't use the above processes, but look how much metal is in a motor compared to an IC engine?

all in all, really, if you look it from every angle, IC is more damaging to the environment. Electric does use energy, but with nuclear, its not a problem really

Just my opinion of course, feel free to argue back

(sorry for the 5 replies, but 500 characters is a bit small for a rant)

[SimplyAtheist]

Very nice plane, but most people done think about the pollution the power plant generates to charge up the batteries.

What do you think pollutes more,... an hour of gas in the piston engine or the 24 hours required to charge up the battery???

Think about it.

[ProductionDesignrMAX]

Wow SimplyAthiest you really need to do your homework. I suggest that the first thing that you do is check out the Tesla Motors Tesla roadster comaprison in efficiency compared to any IC car (including all modern hybrids - even the prius). Electric motors are driven by power already generated and start at 3-4 times MORE efficient than a combustion motor. Secondly, us first world contries with 21st century current technology have some EXTREEMLY clean and high tech power generation plants.

[SimplyAtheist]

Trust me, I've done more research on engines and brushless motors in the last 6 yrs then I'd like to admit. I can see you are only looking at the surface of things and take it at "face value".

[SimplyAtheist]

The chemical and processes it takes to make these sorts of batteries, which I'm assuming there LiPo's, is 10x worse then any factory making engines. The power plants that generate the electricity,... coal, natural gas, nuclear,... are all extremely bad. Only about 3-4% is produced by solar or wind.

My point was, most people think that just because it's electric, it's pollution free. I was only trying to get people think deeper, which I see, you are unable to.

[LkOutMtnMan]

I see your point, there are a LOT of coal fired steam power plants left around the country for some reason. Nearby nucleur power plant 90% completed but gov't been telling folks that it isn't needed! Strange after seeing power shortage in Calif hugh?

[ProductionDesignrMAX]

But athiest, we are not comparing the battery packs to factorys making engines, we are comparing the damage to the environment with all electric vs. IC consumer vehicles, particularly small aircraft. Aircraft are MUCH MUCH more polluting than automobiles.

[WatsonsVideos]

actually, nuclear isnt "bad". Yes the waste is bad, but during the time in which the radioactive material makes power, it is completly clean and efficient, and by far the best way to make power.

Aside from that, back to the motors....

[WatsonsVideos]

An IC motor is on average about 15% efficient, at the most, about 30%

The electric motor, as the guy in the vid states, is 90% efficient. thats a whopping 3 to 6 times more efficient.

Lipos don't take any more energy to make than gas, or any other hydrocarbon based fuel, which again, requires loads of energy to split the long chain molecules. Lipos, although i dont know the ins and outs of how they are produced, cannot use any more energy than an oil refinery.

[WatsonsVideos]

Add to that that once a battery is made, you don't have to carry on using it, where as petroleum is needed in constant demand.

[WatsonsVideos]

Again, you forgot that what goes into making an engine? well, mining, thats enviromental damage, especially all those IC trucks and diggers, then you have to extract the metal from its raw elements, thats fairly damaging to, then you have to melt the stuff to usefull shapes for shipping, that uses energy, then cast it, machine it, which uses energy, by this time, a huge amount of energy is used! Of course,

[kpmacaz]

I fly RC planes with all of this same technology. The batteries have gotten much better. The LiIon similar to A123 can be charged at a much higher rate similar to gas fuel up. I would still like to see a fuel cell instead and with maybe smaller battery capacity in amphours for boost power.

[TubaScooby]

If you want to make up some arbitrary time figures then I will play your game.

How long does it take to pump the oil, get it to the ship, transport around the world to america, haul it by truck, rail or pipeline to a refinery, refine it to gasoline, transport it around the country and then pump into your fuel tank?

Well I'll tell you it is a lot longer than digging up some coal and trucking to the powerplant and then completing the 24 hour charge on those batteries.

[TubaScooby]

But as I said your numbers are arbitrary and comparing the time to fill a tank of gasoline with the time to charge batteries as a way of calculating the amount of polution created is like comparing the amount of time it took to cook a meal to judge how much you like the taste of it.

Obviously the ideal use for electric vehicles is in your car, in your garage, being charged by your own personal solar, wind or other alternative power generating system.

[TubaScooby]

Electric is much cleaner than gasoline and with people having their own power stations at home the clean factor would be very impressive SimplyAtheist. And though the 1 hour flight time does not make it terribly usefull as an aircraft, it is only meant to be a foot in the door to much more usefull things (which can be said for a lot of new inventions and technologies) this is simply logical.

[freddytuber]

You are an idiot - you can charge with wind or solar power.