Not electric or hybrid, but hydrogen (H2fly).
This actually makes sense. Seems to have a range of 750 km and presumably a refuelling time comparable to ICE. Sure, for now hydrogen isn’t “green”, but then nor is electricity except in Norway and France. And it certainly CAN be.
From: Highland News Group. 27/10_2023.
https://imnews.mydigitalnewspaper.com/viewarticles/HNMJJ/NEWS/hnm10350299hnmjj
I would be scared to enter the aircraft that has 45 min plus reserve
Gliders exist. And I actually expect it to have a very good glide ratio. This is a direct necessity of electric flight to minimise wasted energy, it even looks like a glider with the long and narrow wings.
Inkognito wrote:
Gliders exist.
I forgot about the gliders. I used to readily jump into it having 0 min endurance
Here’s an interesting article about an electric aircraft in today’s NYT (should not be behind paywall, as I can ‘share’ articles as a subscriber).
The Velis Electro.
It flies well, with pretty significant issues. It is funny in how they bend the normal definitions of stuff like “reserve”
A new term: “VFR reserve” → “reserve within a specific airport” → 10 mins is OK. 40 min recharge which is not bad. But the airport installed a 1 MW supply.
Battery degradation from 100% to zero in 500hrs, but some degraded a lot faster (warranty change). The battery costs 20k and that (20k/500) is the dominant cost. The electricity cost at the location of the flight is close to zero (€1 for a 40 min fight; obviously nonsensically subsidised).
Battery needs to be above +5C to be usable, so a preheat capability is unavoidable. This was Sweden and a heated hangar is mandatory.
No cockpit heater
From Sweden, so with impeccable credentials!
(from FTN, a UK flight training trade rag)
impractical for anything other than flight training adjacent to their home airfield
In the last number of Flynytt (Norwegian GA magazine) there’s an article about the project of the Danish Air Force. The last 2 years they have tested the Velis Electro to see if it’s suitable for training in particular, but also other other thing the air force would use a GA aircraft for. The project is now ended, and the conclusion is rather funny: They didn’t find it suitable for any practical purpose whatsoever It was good at one thing. It was better than other trainers for soaring. During one flight they managed to stay airborne for 1h 53 minutes. The engine was running all the time, because at 6000 feet they were afraid the temperature of the batteries would get too low (which IMO is just nonsense, but that’s for the PIC to decide anyway).
I have tried the Velis Electro. It flies just fine. A nice aircraft. Feels like a underpowered and heavy Alphatrainer. In all honesty, “heavy and underpowered”, is the feeling you get when comparing any UL with an “identical” LSA. Funny thing, with two grown ups, an LSA and this Velis Electro has about the same endurance also. In some cases, the Velis has more.
The Velis Electro must be seen as a technology demonstrator — not as a viable aircraft. Not primarily because of endurance but because of weight limitations.
Airborne_Again wrote:
The Velis Electro must be seen as a technology demonstrator
The previous experimental version, certainly. However, this is the certified version. It’s supposed to be used for “certified” stuff An honest look at this, and it’s obvious that the only thing the aircraft can be used for, is as a demonstrator that shows electric flight is possible. The certification is more of a sales gimmick, since there’s nothing practical it can be use for, not even training, and there is no need to certify it to come to that conclusion. It’s been an exercise for EASA (and Pipistrel) perhaps, put down all the ground work for certification of electric planes.
Electric aircraft is something that fits in the UL/experimental world. It’s something for homebuilders to experiment and fiddle with, and there’s several dozens of aircraft to chose from. Perhaps in air sports they would also be a thing, some way or the other, gliders being the obvious, but far from the only. The certified world is about payload and endurance exclusively, and this requires an increase in energy density that current Li ion technology will never achieve.
