Pipistrel Velis Electro Completes Record Flights | Hacker News Reader

Pipistrel Velis Electro Completes Record Flights

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43 pointsprostoalex11 comments

This is a pretty low-performance electric airplane. Fairly efficient, from light sport aircraft standards, but really inefficient compared to where you could go if you want to push aerodynamic efficiency to its limits (ala high performance sailplanes).

The chemistry isn't terribly high-performance and neither is the battery weight fraction that high.

Once clean-sheet, ambitious designs like the Eviation Alice get off the ground, we'll see these kinds of records rapidly ripped up.

Even so, I'm glad someone is doing this. Stunts are a good way to show the current state of the art and focus engineers on obvious places for improvement.

That’s saying something about the future of electric air transport, though. Pipistrel is able to smash lots of records using designs that don’t even properly capitalize on the advantages and possibilities of electric propulsion. It’s both record setting and a bellwether.

I love Pipistrel for their present-day achievements in electric flight :) Wouldn’t mind getting one of their self-launch electric gliders.

Yeah agreed, even on the GA market, the eFlyer 2 is a much more aerodynamic design (low wing, wheel pants, lower windshield height) which is already claiming 36kW cruise at 100kts.

eFlyer 2 has a shorter wingspan, though, more like a traditional GA aircraft.

Pipistrel's aircraft can actually soar in thermals it has such a long wingspan (I think).

But yeah, I like the eFlyer and I'm looking forward to the 4 person one which you could theoretically use for passenger service.

I assume as flight schools using electric aircraft become more common, so will the charging infrastructure.

Even though they must have pushing the limits of the plane, 738 km all electric is definitely a significant accomplishment. I wonder just how light their plane is!

If I'm reading the article correctly, they had refuelling cars handing them cables while in motion, so that they could recharge the batteries inflight.

It's a stunt.

I've been wondering how that kind of thing could be productized.

Like if take-off is the most energy intensive part, can you have a magnetically connected cable that detaches once it get pulled to full length? Of not, what is the problem and can we work around it?

Or auxiliary batteries that detach and return as parachute drones to be recharged for the next takeoff?

Similarly, hydrogen fueling stations in the middle of the ocean seem like an interesting way to decarbonise shipping.

I think you'd have better luck with some kind of a glider launch system where you have a stationary motor on the ground and a long cable. It's possible to put 2kft of altitude on in less than a minute this way. If you wanted to do the same with GA electric planes you probably could perhaps with longer runways or more powerful winches esp. if you engineer the airframe to handle a more powerful winch. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliding#Winch_launching

Not my reading. I understood they had two ground crews with charging equipment and possibly batteries such that at every airport they land, the ground crew arrives in time to recharge the plane.

Which was necessary, as there is no electrical charging infrastructure at today’s airports.

Definitely. As are all record attempts.

Still useful, though.

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