Electric powerplant on RV?

[FinnFlyer]

There were a couple of articles in the last couple of RVators by Van about his self-launching electrical glider. Looks like an electric motor is more at home there. Still, an adequate power source to recharge the batteries appeared to be an issue.

https://www.vansaircraft.com/rvator/

Finn

[Mike S]

Originally Posted by Aluminum

Mike, you get First Prize for Missing the Big Picture!

And you sir, get the first prize for selective editing my post to skew the meaning.

I have included the rest of my statement (bold type) at the end here, please read it.

Originally Posted by Aluminum

Now look at the positives:

- One doesn't need an airport.

- One doesn't need a pilot's license nor a driver's license (it's Ultralight!).

- One doesn't need any flying skills nor specialized knowledge.

- Such a One won't be able to intrude into "precious" airspace and endanger others.

- If it annoys one's neighbors to zoom in/out of one's backyard, trailer it two blocks away and have it land itself back onto the trailer.

- Park it in the garage.

- Range/speed is limited by the aforementioned Ultralight constraint. Lift the constraint, range/speed increases accordingly.

- If one needs more range, make it a gasoline series hybrid with a tiny battery to supply the burst for vertical takeoff. (Oh, and provide a toilet for us young-at-heart.)

The whole point of this exercise isn't to make a better airplane; it is to make a flying thing fit in places where airplanes and helicopters don't, enabled by batteries and Neodymium. (Vacuum cleaners look nothing like brooms.) By that measure this is a smashing success, love-child of a quad-copter and a biplane. I want one!

You have made a bunch of statements that refer to ultralight aircraft.

Apples vs. oranges

This is a forum for RV aircraft------but then you already know that.

The opening post asked about putting electric power on a RV. That is what I was addressing, not something in the ultralight world.



Yes, it is interesting tech, and a fun looking craft with an interesting flight capibility.

IMHO for electric flight to get to be more than just a novelty, you need to be close to the performance of gas powered aircraft in; load carrying ability, range, speed, refueling (charging) time and cost.

Dont get me wrong, I am not against electric flight, I am just trying to see the total picture and ignore the koolaid. I look forward to the time I can plug in my plane at night and then go fly out for an hour or two, at 150 mph. Then turn around and fly home and land with the same reserves my gas powered plane has. Plug it in again and be ready for the next flight tomorrow

Maybe someday.........

Done here.

[emsvitil]

Originally Posted by mchargmg

Hi all,

As technology improves, I wonder if electricity will come into its own as the second plane. I do not know what percentage of pilots have multiple planes, but many that do have a "fun" plane as their second plane. Something you tool around the local area in for an hour fits the bill of an electric plane pretty well. I know Pipistrel made the argument for the Alpha electro that most training flights are an hour. Doing that multiple times a day, day in and day out, while cutting out the maintenance was a big driver for them actually getting the plane to the market. I guess time will tell if this comes to anything or not.

Blue skies,

Geoff

Probably true, but for the next student the batteries will be dead..........

[mchargmg]

Supposedly the recharge time is 45 minutes. When I was doing training our club ran 2-3 sorties a day on each trainer, which would be very doable with this recharge time. The "refuel" cost for a flight was $3 for the electricity.

I am not saying this is the be-all and end-all, it just seems like they are getting closer to making this make sense, at least for some use cases.

Blue Skies

Geoff

[gasman]

Originally Posted by mchargmg

Supposedly the recharge time is 45 minutes. When I was doing training our club ran 2-3 sorties a day on each trainer, which would be very doable with this recharge time. The "refuel" cost for a flight was $3 for the electricity.

I am not saying this is the be-all and end-all, it just seems like they are getting closer to making this make sense, at least for some use cases.

Blue Skies

Geoff

About the same as my local evening flight.

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by plehrke

I see no evidence that an electric motor and batteries will be any less to purchase than a Lycoming especially when they get the power density of the batteries up, they will probably require some exotic materials.
Oh, and electricity is not free. Nor is the overhaul, and or disposal of warn out batteries.

Corrected the attribution of that quote. It wasn't me.