The US absolutely cannot manage without 100LL or “100UL” – unless somebody is trying to shut down an airport. But actually most of Europe can’t either. Whoops, another debate, another thread 
Looking at the website, they state ~50kW and ~1hr. Prob99 not both at the same time 
That would be 50kWh of storage but taking the marketing BS out of it, a rough guess looks like a 20-30kWh storage. If you want to charge that in 30 mins you are looking at ~50kW of power. Definitely need 3 phase for that, but a typical airfield will have that. My ex’s house has that; I had it put in in 1995, for about £1k (more like 5k today) But… let’s say you want to charge 10 of these planes. That’s a 500kW feed, which it’s not gonna have. Plus the existing requirements. It’s gonna cost a good few tens of k, minimum, to get that installed, and that assumes there is a 11kV/33kV (or the local equivalent in your country; these are traditional UK voltages) line very near. If it is some km away (and most GA airfields are in the middle of nowhere) then it is hundreds of k. I have already posted pics of megawatt-size transformers, and they aren’t 100 quid
All feasible if the business case is good enough, but no matter how you shake it, can’t do the cross-country component in it. So with a few traditional (Rotax) versions around, you can do PPL training. Forget any “club” fly-outs though. Those will be firmly back to reality.
Also, in terms of hours, the circuit component of a PPL is not much. Less than 50% I think.
Cross country usability is hard to estimate because it is so far out. It’s like debating when nuclear fusion will come. Not all technology advances steadily. Look at computers and Moore’s Law; they hit the buffers around 4GHz, after which they had to go sideways. Nobody knows how fast battery technology will go.
Well, that’s the Black Hat POV
I’m not sure that the assumption that electrical planes are cheaper to operate is always true- this week we had electricity hourly prices from 40cents/kwh to 1.20EUR-kwh.. I was very much tempted to switch our server room to backup generator, as the “selfmade” electrons come at 30-40cents/kwh..
Peter wrote:
Also, in terms of hours, the circuit component of a PPL is not much. Less than 50% I think.
Much less.
Just glanced at the first few pages of my logbook and of the 45hrs only about 10-12 entries, totalling roughly as many hours, contain the multiple takeoffs and landings characteristic of circuit work.
Solution looking for a problem.
FWIW, the FAA have now launched an “informal investigation” and have requested an “expedited response” from the Santa Clara County Airports Administration – both on the subject of 100LL and not renewing long-term leases for tenants, as well as the general state of both airports. I can’t find the letter about the investigation on the FAA site, but I’m sure it is out there somewhere.
Apologies for following up in this thread, but this is where my initial post about the end of 100LL at KRHV was made.
Not sure it’s been mentioned before, but Avweb Paul has another interesting vid, this time about the Joby project: Why Electric Airplanes Face Such A Tough Haul: Joby Edition
30kg for 300hp not bad, can I get 3h battery with it?
Textron to acquire Pipistrel.. Hmm, I hope that doesn’t mean that their innovative spirit gets bogged down by big company politics and burocracy. I’ve seen enough examples of that happening in my lifetime.
https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/textron-to-acquire-pipistrel/
From here
Malibuflyer wrote:
To be useful in training operations, an airplane needs an endurance of safe 1h30min at cost to peak power (1 hr of yelling with lots of TO/GA and 30min “reserve” to get to any kind of alternate landing field in case the runway gets blocked immediately before the final landing was planned).
Bristell claims that their Energic, which is now flying as a prototype and expected to be certified this year, has 1h30 endurance at cruise power. However, charging time is said to be 1:1.
In my opinion, purely electric planes won’t work for anything but special purpose – i.E. training – anytime soon, but hybrid planes can, and that offers a plethora of advantages.
I’ve been accused of being a seller in disguise (which I ain’t, I’m just a customer): https://elfin.aero/
Just talking about the GA factors:
- The ICE can run at optimal performance for the whole time and it can be small and light as you don’t have to satisfy take off power.
- You can even start and leave the populated area on battery power alone, which reduces noise and pollution which in turn makes you an instant favourite with any residents ridden airfield operator.
- All electric planes have to have a very high aerodynamic quality compared to the usual flying bricks of GA, because it is a direct factor in the formula for energy consumption. If you compare the fuel burn (sometimes leaded, no less) of the aging GA fleet to this, it rolls up your toenails. This also leads to good endurance.
- Electric engines are simple and reliable, maintenance costs are low. The ICE is about 10 AMU new, at TBO it is about 2 AMU to service.
Yes, of course there are disatvantages, the long wings and low wing load make it susceptible to ‘rough air’ (but it’s a glider, i can only see the issue when you enter the thermally active zone at high speeds from above), it’s only a two seater like an ultralight, 100kts isn’t really fast, it’s expensive, it’s new technology with teething issues
PS: Last thing I’ve heard is that maiden flight is planned for october. So half a year delay already.
I don’t even see the current crop of electric aeroplanes being useful in training. Yes, circuit training will be cheaper, but then the student (who is only really barely able to fly at this point) needs to transition to another aircraft. That change adds significant training time to a student pilot in the early stages of their flight training. I think that will negate the savings from the fuel.
Then the capital cost is significant. It must sit on the ground doing “nothing” for at least half it’s time. So you need twice as many aircraft to do the same job.
And is it really safe to send a student solo in an aircraft with just 30 mins reserve? While it’s rare, I’m sure we’ve heard stories about a student doing their solo circuits only for someone to block the runway with a burst tyre etc.
