Electric plane wins $1.35 million prize

[Pigeon]

A Pennsylvania company has won a $1.35 million prize from NASA for developing a highly efficient airplane power by electricity.

Pipistrel-USA.com of State College earned the top prize in the CAFE Green Flight Challenge, sponsored by Google, NASA announced Monday.

The plane developed by Pipistrel doubled the fuel efficiency requirement for the competition – flying 200 miles in less than two hours while using less than a gallon of fuel per occupant or the equivalent in electricity. The winning plane used a little more than a half-gallon of fuel per passenger for the 200-mile flight.

Team Pipistrel-USA.com was one of 14 entrants in the competition, which began two years ago. In total, the 14 teams invested $4 million in the competition, according to NASA.

"Two years ago the thought of flying 200 miles at 100 mph in an electric aircraft was pure science fiction," Jack W. Langelaan, team leader of Team Pipistrel-USA.com, said in statement. "Now, we are all looking forward to the future of electric aviation."

Second place, and a $120,000 prize, went to Team eGenius of Ramona, California, whose leader, Eric Raymond, congratulated Team Pipistrel.

The winning aircraft, the Pipistrel Taurus G4, is a four-seat, twin-fuselage aircraft powered by a 145-kilowatt brushless electric motor driving a two-blade propeller mounted on a spar between the fuselages. The plane's wingspan is about 75 feet.

"I'm proud that Pipistrel won. They've been a leader in getting these things into production, and the team really deserves it, and worked hard to win this prize," Raymond said in a NASA statement.

"Electric aircraft have moved beyond science fiction and are now in the realm of practice," Joe Parrish, acting chief technologist at NASA headquarters in Washington, said in a statement.

The planes flew last week out of Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport in California. Only three of the 14 entrants made it into the air, according to The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat. The airport is home to the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency Foundation, which organized the competition with NASA.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/04/el ... ?hpt=hp_t2

Looks like ads make good money at Goggle.

[Egg]

Looks like we can create alternative fueled vehicles when someone offers some cash for them.

[Pigeon]

That's because the companies that have been allowed the tax breaks and profits for current vehicle technology do not want to do it.

[lkwalker]

Batteries. Now there's a novel idea.

[Pigeon]

It sounds like diesel-electric (don't know the fuel here) much like train engines use. A power plant creates electricity to run motors.

[Egg]

Too many kickbacks from big oil. Plus, those oil guys will straight up kill you!

[lkwalker]

It sounds like diesel-electric (don't know the fuel here) much like train engines use. A power plant creates electricity to run motors.

From AP (MSNBC)-

Three planes made it to last week's finals: the Pipistrel and eGenius planes as well as a gasoline-powered plane fielded by the Florida-based Phoenix Air team. Among the factors that gave the Pipistrel Taurus G4 a boost were its dual-fuselage design, which allowed for a 75-foot wingspan with ultra-light construction, a super-efficient powertrain for its 6.5-foot-wide propeller and 450 pounds of lithium-polymer batteries. (EAA News delves into the details, and NASA has a Flickr photo gallery chronicling the competition.)

[Dr Exile]

An aircraft that light with such a large wingspan would be useless in any sort of turbulent air.

[Pigeon]

They should just state a plane with electric motors to drive the props. Wouldn't this ne considered hybrid.

[lkwalker]

Fuck aircraft. We want anti-grav competition. Most of the universe ain't got no air anyways. The Zip could take the prize. What the fuck, I'll enter her if i can split the million bucks with ya and then we can grow some decent tobaccee. And fuck the rest of this horseshit.