Battery powered plane gets a test flight - Elektra One - D-MELN

Battery powered plane gets a test flight, Elektra One. A pilot tests out a prototype battery-powered plane.

"Today we have news of an all-electric airplane the Elektra One.

The Elektra One is a single seater aircraft that weighs just 440lbs and relies entirely on a series of batteries for its power. The news comes from an article at Wired that reports of the plane's recent test flights in Augsburg, Germany.

The airplane is designed to be energy efficient and quiet. Its propeller spins at 1,400 RPM which reduces the noise of the aircraft. PC-Aero say they are aiming to get at least 3 hours flight out of the design which translate to more than 250 miles range.

When purchasing the Elektra One it will include a charging system and hangar for the €100,000 asking price. The company responsible for the aircraft also plan on making solar charging hangars available capable of providing 300 hours of flight time using renewable energy."

Specifications
- number of seats: 1
- maximum weight: 300 kg
- wingspan: 8,6 m
- wing surface : 6,4 m2
- maximum engine power: 16 KW
- empty weight (without batteries): 100 kg
- max. batteries: 100 kg
- payload: 100 kg
- max. range: over 400 km
- max. endurance: over 3 hours
- modern composite glass-/carbon-structure
- advanced aerodynamic design
- best propeller efficiency (90%)
- light batteries
- highly efficient electric drive
- integration of new certification procedures

Quieter, Greener Flight:

The Elektra One plane by PC-Aero is competing to win NASA's CAFE Green Flight Challenge (there's a 1.6 million dollars prize). The goal is to create an aircraft that can "fly 200 miles in less than two hours using the energy equivalent of less than 1 gallon of gasoline per occupant. Team aircraft include those propelled by gasoline, bio-diesel, hydrogen, and electricity." The Elektra One is 100% powered by electricity, and it recently had a successful maiden flight in Germany.

See also:

http://cafefoundation.org/v2/gfc_main.php

http://cafefoundation.org/v2/gfc_2011_teams.php

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Battery
• powered
• plane
• gets
• test
• flight
• Elektra
• One
• enviromentally
• friendly
• co2
• emission
• Geiger
• Engineering
• Norbert
• Lorenzen
• D-MELN
• Augsburg

[supressorgrid]

Fly around thunderstorms, get recharged by the lightning. Stay up forever.

[viruslived]

@supressorgrid As funny as that sounds... you might actually have a point. Considering the use of friction to charge this battery is a good idea.

[ThatMiserableCat]

Electric powered aircraft are equally practical as electric powered boats are.

Not that much.