Electric Airplanes!

Domenick

Domenick

Well-Known Member
There are a number of exciting electric aircraft efforts underway, but to start this thread to discuss them in, I came across this great story, so I thought I'd use it to kick things off.

Basically, it's about a young model airplane builder who decides to make his own passenger-capable electric airplane. Enjoy!

 
The Eviation Alice is a plane with a 650-mile range. It will use a 900 kWh battery sourced from Kokam, with cells said to be 260 Wh/kg, and 3 250 kW motors. A mockup was presented in 2017 at the Paris air show, and it looks quite striking. Will keep an eye out for actual flights.

Eviation_all_electric_aircraft.jpg
 
I had posted this in the general forum. NASA is also trying to develop a electric plane to further the technology and create standardization.


X-57 Maxwell Electric Propulsion Airplane

NASA is researching ideas that could lead to the development of electric propulsion-powered aircraft, which would be quieter, more efficient and environmentally friendly than today's commuter aircraft.

https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/programs_projects/electric_propulsion/index.html

This link has a lot more information including technical papers and specifications.
They are also working on autonomous piloting


x-57_maxwell_city.jpg

Artists impression
 
Domenick said:
Interesting. I wrote about the Air Race E series here.
Click to expand...
I will be interested to see what propellers will be used in the Air Race E planes. The equivalent category ICE planes in the Air Race 1 series used small aircraft engines (eg Cont O-200s) cranked up to high revs which then forced them to use short high pitch props so the tips don't exceed the speed of sound. However short high revving props are not the most efficient. With high torque E-motors should be able use slower turning longer props which will provide a lot more thrust per HP.

The sound of these e-planes should be a lot different, too. The Air Race 1 planes were screaming loud (ear splitting) with their short props. The e-planes should have a quieter deeper sound more similar to normal small aircraft.

The real fun will happen when they combine Air Race 1 and E planes in the same race (if that ever happens). I would expect the e-planes to have a huge advantage (given the same airframes) over their ICE equivalents, just because of the props and torque management capabilities.
 
Larry Page has I think merged his start ups, so it is now Kitty Hawk aero

https://kittyhawk.aero/

Project Heaviside is Kitty Hawk’s latest high-performance electric VTOL vehicle. It is designed to be fast, small and exceedingly quiet, taking advantage of new possibilities to free people from traffic.

The Heaviside vehicle is roughly 100 times quieter than a regular helicopter. Once in the air, the vehicle blends into the background noise of a city or suburb, barely discernible to the human ear. Heaviside can travel from San Jose to San Francisco in 15 minutes and uses less than half the energy of a car. Nice video

https://kittyhawk.aero/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2019.10.02-Website-Loop-Desktop-web.mp4

Fast, small, quiet -- introducing Heaviside.
upload_2019-12-3_17-53-57.webp
 
Yeah, in theory e-aircraft should be a lot quieter than their ICE equivalents. Not because of the engines (or lack of), but the ability to use more efficient props.

One area that will remain a concern for a while, though, is the fear of battery fires. Unlike a car, you can't just quickly stop and get out, if a fire starts.
 
https://flyer.aero/

Flyer is Kitty Hawk’s all-electric VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) vehicle designed to give individuals the ability to experience what it feels like to glide above the water. The vehicle, powered by 10 independent lift fans, is a single-seater that operates between 3-10 feet off the water. Flyer has already traveled over 25,000 times.

 
electriceddy said:
A follow up on the Harbour Air air post which I included in the electric boat thread ( https://insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/electric-boats.103/#post-72398) :
https://victoriaevclub.com/worlds-first-electric-plane-begins-flight-tests/
Best of luck with the flight testing starting Dec 11.
Look forward to becoming a customer when commissioned.
Click to expand...
I might just have to drive over next Wed, and watch this historic event (1st commercial e-plane test flight). I live less than an hour away. Might have a chance to ask a lot of questions...
https://www.harbourair.com/seaplane-to-eplane-flight-test-confirmed/
 
interestedinEV said:
Larry Page has I think merged his start ups, so it is now Kitty Hawk aero

https://kittyhawk.aero/

Project Heaviside is Kitty Hawk’s latest high-performance electric VTOL vehicle. It is designed to be fast, small and exceedingly quiet, taking advantage of new possibilities to free people from traffic.

The Heaviside vehicle is roughly 100 times quieter than a regular helicopter. Once in the air, the vehicle blends into the background noise of a city or suburb, barely discernible to the human ear. Heaviside can travel from San Jose to San Francisco in 15 minutes and uses less than half the energy of a car. Nice video

https://kittyhawk.aero/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2019.10.02-Website-Loop-Desktop-web.mp4

Fast, small, quiet -- introducing Heaviside.
View attachment 6891
Click to expand...
Here is a (slightly) longer YouTube video of the Kitty Hawk Aero.
 
interestedinEV said:
Larry Page has I think merged his start ups, so it is now Kitty Hawk aero

https://kittyhawk.aero/

Project Heaviside is Kitty Hawk’s latest high-performance electric VTOL vehicle. It is designed to be fast, small and exceedingly quiet, taking advantage of new possibilities to free people from traffic.

The Heaviside vehicle is roughly 100 times quieter than a regular helicopter. Once in the air, the vehicle blends into the background noise of a city or suburb, barely discernible to the human ear. Heaviside can travel from San Jose to San Francisco in 15 minutes and uses less than half the energy of a car. Nice video

https://kittyhawk.aero/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2019.10.02-Website-Loop-Desktop-web.mp4

Fast, small, quiet -- introducing Heaviside.
View attachment 6891
Click to expand...
Yeah, e-planes will totally change aircraft, big and small as we know them now. Not just because of being electric, but how that better enables and supports the VTOL design. Aero manufacturers long wanted to go that way (esp military), but the complexities with drive trains and props made that a very expensive and risky (as in dangerous) design. And not many very successful final products.

Electric drive trains (incl new prop designs) greatly simplifies all that, and provides new and better efficiency and performance capabilities. And of course won't need all these gigantic long runway airports we have all over the place now. Should allow for many more smaller hub locations to better service people closer to where they live. I might not live long enough to see all this, but I think it will happen.
 
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