Electric Beaver (!)

[IBob]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/11/worlds-first-fully-electric-commercial-aircraft-takes-flight-in-canada

 

 

[Thruster88]

The Beaver is perfect for lifting a ton of batteries. 

 

 

[skippydiesel]

Already available - in "adult" shops.

 

 

[bexrbetter]

Already available - in "adult" shops.

 

 

 

Yup, this thread is apparently about aircraft I just found out, dang narn it!

 

 

[Marty_d]

 

Yup, this thread is apparently about aircraft I just found out, dang narn it!

 

I'm sure you've already got a cupboard full!

 

 

[IBob]

Some footage:

 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/118133935/why-this-5-minute-flight-is-a-gamechanger

 

 

[Litespeed]

All I could think about was some back country flying- chasing beaver.

 

A electric beaver is cool as a toy but I like 

 

a real one better.

 

 

 

[old man emu]

Do you realise that women had battery-powered tools before men did?

 

 

[red750]

I was going to say I knew a girl who had an electric beaver (I didn't, really).

 

 

[pmccarthy]

It’s hard to believe they named the main character in a TV series Beaver Cleaver and they got away with it.

 

 

[old man emu]

It’s hard to believe they named the main character in a TV series Beaver Cleaver and they got away with it.

 

It's not at all hard to understand why the nickname "Beaver" would have been totally acceptable in the 1950's. It was an application of the name of a well-known advertising character to a typical childhood characteristic and in this case had the added impact of using the individual's surname.

 

Here's how it goes:

 

In the 1950's the Bristol-Myers had a new child-friendly character created to advertise their Ipana toothpaste. This character was a beaver, chosen because of the beaver's prominent front teeth - it is a rodent. The ads were run during children's television hours, so the character was well-known to children and young families. http://www.buckybeaver.ca/buckys_story.php

 

The 1950's were the years that lots of Baby Boomers were in their pre-teen years, and during that time in a child's life they are losing their milk teeth and their adult teeth are coming in. The first teeth to be replaced are the two front teeth, and when they do come in, they appear disproportionately large - like a rodent's. Jerry Mathers, who played "Beaver"  was born in 1949, so when the show started in 1957 he would have been eight years old, and probably just finished getting his two adult front teeth.

 

So what we have is: Well-known advertising character + big front teeth + rhyming surname = Beaver Cleaver.

 

"Beaver" Cleaver or Theodore Cleaver - which would you prefer to be called?

 

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Back to aeroplanes:

 

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200211-the-electric-plane-leading-a-revolution

[Student Pilot]

It doesn't look a lot different to a Garret conversion done a few years ago in Oz, I think it still getting the guts thrashed out of it on para ops somewhere

[kgwilson]

These guys are on to something that will save them a fortune. Most of their flights are short hops so if they have a 5 minute battery swap the reduction in maintenance and fuel costs will be enormous as well as the quiet operation which will impress their customers and those living near their takeoff & landing areas.

[Student Pilot]

Wonder what the gearing on the prop is, does it rev at 2300 revs like a radial does? If it does it won't be any quieter, the noise you hear with a Beaver on takeoff is the prop tips goen supersonic not engine noise.

[Litespeed]

True a trade prop is very loud.

 

But electric is well suited to new prop designs that can be substantially quieter.

 

If they change it...,...

[kgwilson]

I can't imagine them using the same prop as everything with the electric setup is different and also there is now a streamlined cowl replacing that huge flat front that they had to push through the air. Almost the entire prop can produce thrust whereas before half of it was producing cooling air.

[Downunder]

Yes, I would imagine it to be a custom electric prop.

As the electric motor would already be substantially quieter, I don't think prop noise would be high up in the design parameters.

I know someone who has flown in an electric aircraft and he says the fact that the electric motor can pull max torque from zero rpm onwards is a shock. No building rpm to bring in the power, just instant hard acceleration.

[spacesailor]

Warmup too should be shorter ?.

spacesailor

[kgwilson]

Yep instant warmup.

[turboplanner]

Warmup too should be shorter ?.

spacesailor

Yes, half a nano second, but think about your experience around the house with electric motors that suddenly stop working, never to spin again - like hair driers, and think about all the electrical issues in the newer cars, and all those molten bitumen patches you see on the freeways these days.............

[Student Pilot]

Warmup too should be shorter ?.

spacesailor

With 985 in Beaver it used to take ages on a cold frosty morning for the oil to get to 40C, I would be still sitting purring away and the Fletcher's with their 720's were on the way to the job

[turboplanner]

An electric motor can be designed for initial torque and maximum power rpm to suit the optimum prop for the aircraft.

With the operation someone else described, and exchange battery packs, a lot of the negatives of electric "vehicles" fall away.

If you're not looking for range, then range issues fall away.

If you can swap batteries, then the long downtimes while charging fall away

If you're not trying to design in recharging in the glide, the aircraft is less costly, less failure-prone, lighter etc.

If the design is based on the Application, and not on CO2 reduction, you don't have to worry about trying to charge the batteries on solar or nuclear.

Looks very exciting for all short-lead flights, and not just for Beavers.