Electirc Lazair

[hihosland]

Paul Dewhurst ( he of Skyranger UK and Flylight fame and therefore all round good bloke) became airborne in Lazair powered by a pair of Plettenberg Predator 12 kW (peak output) model airplane motors

 

More info at

 

Latest Electric Powered Personal Transportation - EcoHuddle Community

 

and

 

CAFE Foundation Blog A Tale of Three Pauls

 

Ozzie, Ian and others interested in the Lazair take note

 

cheers

 

Davidh

 

 

[turboplanner]

I'll stick my neck out now and say this is the way to go for many of us - not necessarily the Lazair level, but 10 years will see development of heavier aircraft.

 

 

[Spin]

I'll stick my neck out now and say this is the way to go for many of us - not necessarily the Lazair level, but 10 years will see development of heavier aircraft.

Not even 10 years, Yuneec from China have a 2 seater which they claim a 2.5 hour endurance for. I believe we can expect to see them here during the course of next year. Things are going to get interesting!

 

 

[turboplanner]

It's a long way from demonstration to the production unit showroom.

 

I've been working for nearly two years redesigning vehicles for Australia which were already in standard production in the US. There are all sorts of regulations and safety hurdles to overcome, and the process will still take some months.

 

We desperately need some lateral design on batteries.

 

I drove an electric truck in Japan about ten years ago, and they still haven't been released for production. They would work fine for a time, then needed to rest for about 30 minutes to cool down.

 

The battery replacement cost was a major killer - they had to be replaced in about three years at a cost of $3000 - $4000

 

The more recent developments like Lithium Ion (phones, notebook computers) and Lithium Polymer (RC modedl aiorcraft,cars etc) give lighter weight and greater range, but have a nasty side effect called "thermal runaway"

 

At a recent seminar of electric cars, a speaker pointed out that these fires were almost impossible to control, and a fire department official confirmed it and said their action would be to grab any occupants fast and let the fire burn itself out.

 

So for safe flying we need:

 

(a) A major breakthrough in battery development, OR

 

(b) A practical fuel cell system, where the fuel is hydrogen, and less batteries are required OR

 

© A design breakthrough in solar cells, such as a stick on film, where the wing area can be used

 

There are a few battery fires shown on Youtube - you may not be so keen to put your laptop on your lap after watching the test videos.

 

 

[winsor68]

That is one downside...anyone who think a fuel fire is nasty has not experienced a Lithium Battery fire...! One battery the size of you palm is enough to burn your car to the ground.

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

David, have been following these guys for sometime now. Electric Lazairs have been discussed on the Lazair.com site for a few years now. I came very close to going down the predator path but they are limited in their performance due to the high temps they run at and this limits the power they can produce over a period of time and this makes them pretty inefficfient for the $ outlay. Now that Yuneec has their production facilities coming online it looks a lot more practical for engines of this small power output. Cost of batteries, remember you are purchasing your "Fuel" in advance. if you can get an hour per charge and 1000 charge cycles per battery pack then it comes down to about 3 bucks an hour, just consider the recharge cost from the mains supply of a couple of dollars as a green tax or whatever. Lipo batteries can be extreamly dangerous if you use poor cells or poor rechargers that do not balance the individual cells. steping back to new generation li ion batteries is looking more practical now still not as powerfull as lipo but a lot safer and a little cheaper.

 

I don't see any real big gains in solar panels for a long time.

 

Ozzie

 

 

[winsor68]

I wonder what percentage of the weight is in the motor? Maybe you just need four engine to take care of the high temperature problem...

 

 

[turboplanner]

Cost of batteries, remember you are purchasing your "Fuel" in advance. Ozzie

Good point, and will be even more affordable as Peak Oil, and possible carbon penalties send fossil fuel higher and higher.