[as the] Radar Sweeps » 2007

Archive for December, 2007

Flight of the Electra

Monday, December 31st, 2007

On Land…

Tesla Motor Company is bringing to market all all-electric roadster capable of going 0-60 in less than 4 seconds. Aptera will be selling a 3-wheeled wonder that has a range of 120 miles on a charge of just a few hours. Toyota appears to have cracked the code on selling high-mileage hybrid electrics to Americans. I have been the happy owner of a 55 mpg Honda Insight for 7 years.

And in the Air…

All well and good. But what about airplanes? Even as I have advocated for a long time for fuel efficiency and hybrid technology for cars - you are just moving across the surface of the earth, after all - I have long said, “Gasoline should be reserved for those applications that require it’s energy density - airplanes.” Now comes news from the Association to Promote Electric Aircraft [APAME] in France, that an all-electric aircraft, powered by lithium-polymer batteries, has flown with test pilot for nearly an hour.

On December 23, 2007, test pilot Christian Vandamme flew the Electra over a closed circuit for 48 minutes, covering 50 km. The project page for the Electra has details. As batteries achieve higher energy density and shorter recharge times, and as carbon fiber permits lighter aircraft perhaps the future of electric, personal aircraft is not as far away as I thought…