# World's Fastest Electric Plane former DIY



## PhantomPholly (Aug 20, 2008)

Good article out of Oshkosh air show.


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## McRat (Jul 10, 2012)

Wow. The world will be electric powered in our lifetime. Buy utility stocks now.


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## PhantomPholly (Aug 20, 2008)

Well I think so but not everyone agrees. There are still several orders of magnitude to go before batteries surpass gas for energy density.

Seems like the fellow the article talks about ought to be one of the people mentioned on this site?


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## McRat (Jul 10, 2012)

Well, IBM demonstrated a Lithium-Air battery that has the power density of gas. 10x that of LiPo? Something like that.

I'm sure if there's money to be made, IBM will get it to market ASAP.


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## david85 (Nov 12, 2007)

Its not even that fast....which means there are plenty more records to come after this. Propeller driven flight is generally practical up to about 500 MPH. After that, it tends to get a bit noisy

Wish I had a quarter million to blow on a plane.


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## McRat (Jul 10, 2012)

david85 said:


> Its not even that fast....which means there are plenty more records to come after this. Propeller driven flight is generally practical up to about 500 MPH. After that, it tends to get a bit noisy
> 
> Wish I had a quarter million to blow on a plane.


I've only flown Cessna 172's and 150's. They only go about 110mph. 200 is a HUGE jump from there. Most private planes don't go 200.

500mph in a Mustang takes about 3000HP, IIRC.


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## david85 (Nov 12, 2007)

McRat said:


> I've only flown Cessna 172's and 150's. They only go about 110mph. 200 is a HUGE jump from there. Most private planes don't go 200.
> 
> 500mph in a Mustang takes about 3000HP, IIRC.


Well sure, but the cessna 170 or 150 series isn't what I would describe as a performance plane and wasn't supposed to be.

Lancair has been building 300 MPH + aircraft for over 20 years.

Even the Rutan EZ in the article was rated for up to 185 MPH stock (assuming I'm correct about the exact model he used)


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## njloof (Nov 21, 2011)

Realistically, electric planes are likely to be used for moderate performance and short flights until battery weight can be reduced. Great for trainers like a Cessna.


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## PhantomPholly (Aug 20, 2008)

Electric has the advantages that it does not lose power with altitude and requires little or no special venting for cooling (big drag). Get us the batteries and everyone will switch - maybe not as fast as the automobile market, but then again airplanes average a 60 year lifetime compared to a 20 year lifetime for autos.


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## McRat (Jul 10, 2012)

I predict ultralights will switch to electric fairly quickly, if they haven't already.

You could run 2 or 3 motors for redundancy, hand-lay 2HP worth of solar chips on the top of the wing, and when you park it, it could charge it's batteries or help power your home when you are not using it.


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## PhantomPholly (Aug 20, 2008)

McRat said:


> I predict ultralights will switch to electric fairly quickly, if they haven't already.
> 
> You could run 2 or 3 motors for redundancy, hand-lay 2HP worth of solar chips on the top of the wing, and when you park it, it could charge it's batteries or help power your home when you are not using it.


Electric ultralights make a lot of sense - low power, and typically short mission. Solar on the wings does not - weight adds up quickly and you will exceed the FAA weight limits for an ultralight, so it's self-defeating.


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## McRat (Jul 10, 2012)

PhantomPholly said:


> Electric ultralights make a lot of sense - low power, and typically short mission. Solar on the wings does not - weight adds up quickly and you will exceed the FAA weight limits for an ultralight, so it's self-defeating.


The chips themselves weigh almost nothing. They are like butterfly wings. You coat them with a thin coat of polymer though to protect them, and that has some weight. Remember that a solar airplane flew pretty far...

http://news.discovery.com/tech/solar-plane-record.html

It would not be cheap. But it would increase the range. Panels are cheap, mounting 1000 fragile chips is not. The individual chips are cheap, but very labor intensive to create an array.


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