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Non-Tech : Unique Mobility, Inc. (UQM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Darrel McPherson who wrote (75)	9/30/2002 10:31:17 PM
From: gg cox	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 107

First Flight of Electric Plane Scheduled for Year-End This research and education project focuses on designing, building and testing a safe, practical, two-place general aviation airplane powered by DC electricity from fuel cells and advanced rechargeable batteries. The Electric Plane (E-Plane) will be designed to have a range of 250 mi. on a single charge. Advanced Technology Products is leading the program, with funding from the not-for-profit Foundation for Advancing Science and Technology Education (FASTec), as well as from NASA under the Revolutionary Aeropropulsion Program. The E-Plane is being developed around an all-carbon French-built two-place Lafayette III donated by American Ghiles Aircraft of Dijon, France. The airplane will be powered by a 53kW. brushless permanent magnet electric motor from UQM Technologies. The batteries are being developed by Lithium Technologies, and the propeller was donated by Airmaster Propellers. Blue Mountain Avionics donated the electronic flight instrumentation and data acquisition systems. Other key partners are Giner Electrochemical Systems, Satcon Technology, the Analytic Energy Systems division of Chevron-Texaco and Diamond Aircraft. There have been a number of new developments in the E-Plane program (AW&ST Aug. 13, 2001, p. 59). Besides being selected for NASA funding and obtaining the UQM motor, the E-Plane conducted its first low-power taxi test Sept. 13 at Worcester (Mass.) Regional Airport. Current tasks include: battery pack testing and integration; data collection system and instrumentation upgrade; and cooling system and cowling design work. Ground testing is set to begin in October, and first flight is targeted for year-end. Fuel cells, unlike batteries, generate electricity rather than just store it. They are fueled by hydrogen and oxygen, and can operate continuously as long as they are fed. Fuel cells produce no emissions, only water as a byproduct. Although expensive to produce today, applications in automobiles and residential power are expected to reduce their cost over time. The test pilots for the project are well known: Robert (Hoot) Gibson, the former space shuttle astronaut who holds the world record for altitude in horizontal flight for a Class1A aircraft, as well as a record for time-to-climb to 9,000 meters; former naval aviator Wayne Handley, aerobatic champion who in 1989 became the world record holder for inverted flat spins, having done 67 consecutive turns; and Bruce Bohannon, holder of virtually all piston engine time-to-climb records in the Exxon "Flying Tiger." aviationnow.com