ElectraFlyer-C electric mini plane makes flying cheaper than driving
I don’t know about you, but for me, this does it. The ElectraFlyer C, an electric ultralight plane available now if you want to plonk down 21000 $ max, bang it all up together, and take it on a relatively silent 2 hour flight.
Environment-friendly? Sure. If you can manage to get the power from solar or wind energy, you are St. Environment with this plane. Don’t forget you are going to see fumes and pollution say goodbye and walk over the horizon.
The ElectraFlyerC is a kit plane from Electric Aircraft Corporation. The little plane debuted to much appreciation at the recently conluded EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh.
ElectraFlyer C photo
The most remarkable things about the ElectraFlyer C are the flying cost – so low it’s absurd – and ultra quiet electric motor. Hand over the cash, and take home a kit which consists of a moni motoglider, choose from one of the three battery packs, bang it all up together – not a very easy job if you have zero DIY skills – and take to the skies.
ElectraFlyer C in flight
The ElectraFlyer C complies with FAA regulations. You can opt to buy a ballistic parachute for an extra cost for coming down safely in an emergency.
ElectraFlyre C electric plane on the tarmac
Most notable benefits, apart from the low flying cost, are the reliable electric motor which requires very little maintenance compared to a typical lightweight gasoline engine, less mess, less noise and therefore and no earbuds for the pilot and no pissed off neighbors.
ElectraFlyer cockpit
A direct drive 5 KWh electric motor carbon fiber lightweight 45 inch propeller gets the little airplane climbing at 500-600 feet per minute. The ElectraFlyer-C has a cruisng speed of 70 mph (112 kmph), a top speed of 144 kmph, and your flight time would be 1.5 to 2 hours. That is with the top end battery pack, of course. With others, your flight time would be a lesser. yes, you can carry that 110 W charger when flying cross-country. The ElectraFlyer weighs around 250 pounds.
Charging time? For that 2 hour flight, you can recharge the ElectraFlyer’s battery pack in 6 hours from a 110W electric power socket, or in 2 hours from a 220 W socket. Neat.
Costs? A full charge will cost you around 60 cents depending on where your power comes from. The battery pack can last 1000 cycles (charging and depleting) and then you would need to buy another lithium ion battery pack. The top end battery pack costs 8,500 $. So that is 1000 cycles = 1500 flying hours at a cost of 6.2 $ per hour! (cost of battery replacement divided by flying hours plus 60 cents per charging cycle).
Boy, you are flying a lot cheaper than driving!
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Sriram said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 16:41
This would be some kind of option if it didn’t need runways…
The Bucky-Gandhi Design Institution » Electric light plane said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 16:45
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Allen said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 17:06
Checking their web site, it looks like the trike is $18k but I don’t see the C’s price on there. Under $20k sounds too good to be true – but I hope it is true!
Luke said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 18:17
If a Prius gets 60 mpg and gas is $3.50 per gallon, and you drive 70 mph, doesn’t that put gas cost at $4.08, which is less than $6.2? Not exactly sure how maintenance costs compare, though.
Rich said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 18:35
As a non-Prius owner, I may be mistaken, but if the Prius is travelling at 70mph, I don’t think it’s getting 60MPG. I think that’s a city figure for when it’s operating mostly on its electric motor, right?
iknowyoueazyryder said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 18:46
Luke, you are going to have to replace the batteries in your Prius some day.
ykjay said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 18:57
Is there a ‘quick swap’ possibility for the battery pack, so you could go on long trips, stopping to replace the batteries every 1.5 hours?
Bill said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 19:04
quote:
A direct drive 5 KWh electric motor carbon fiber lightweight 45 inch propeller gets the little airplane climbing at 500-600 feet per minute. The ElectraFlyer-C has a cruisng speed of 70 mph (112 kmph), a top speed of 144 kmph, and your flight time would be 1.5 to 2 hours. That is with the top end battery pack, of course. With others, your flight time would be a lesser. yes, you can carry that 110 W charger when flying cross-country. The ElectraFlyer weighs around 250 pounds.
Charging time? For that 2 hour flight, you can recharge the ElectraFlyer’s battery pack in 6 hours from a 110W electric power socket, or in 2 hours from a 220 W socket. Neat.
——-
Your units here are FUBARed. The motor is probably 5kW, not 5kWh (kW is power, kWh is energy used over the course of an hour) — so either it has a 5kWh battery and can run for some time other than one hour, or the engine is just plain 5kW. Additionally, household sockets are not normally rated in watts. They are rated in volts (~110V or ~220V). Granted you could extract Watts from Volts and the maximum rated current in the line (say 15A) but that would give you a number other than 110W or 220W, and a number much to small for the 5kWh? rating of the battery….
Erik Bass said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 19:12
An electric motor is rated in KW. A battery pack is rated in KWh. For a good electrical description of the propulsion system you should know both.
However, this plane is freakin sweet. Thank you EAC for you hard work and innovation.
Scott said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 19:37
Luke, you missed that it was $6.20 per hour not mile. So, at a cruising speed of 70mph that would break down to about $.09 per mile. A HUGE difference.
Joe said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 20:17
Luke, it’s not cheaper than driving a Prius, but it is cheaper than driving any non-hybrid car.
Jeff Woods said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 20:18
Wow, Nice. I think I will sell my Cessna 172 and buy one of those. Looks like fun.
Jiff
http://www.anonymize.us.tc
Candide said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 20:26
Neat.
Sorry to say, but you mixed up Watts and Volts (110V and 220V).
Thanks for the story anyway.
yossarian said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 20:31
sorry, don’t you mean a 110/220 V socket? Volts not Watts.
Donny said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 20:40
I would think you would mean it can be charged through a 110 or 220 V(olt) socket- not a 110 or 220 W(att) socket. Right?
James said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 20:43
This should not be compared to a Prius, it should be compared to an all-electric car. Unfortunately there are no major manufacturers that sell all-electric cars in the USA right now. In the next few years we should start seeing “plugin” hybrids, but in the meantime, this plane would compare poorly to a home-built pure electric conversion, which can be done for as little as $10,000.
Mat said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 20:48
Sriram,
There are a fair amount of runways all over the US, most are General Aviation only, take a look at any aviation chart.
I would be interested to see if you could add solar panels to the wings and keep it up longer.
Susan said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 21:01
lol who wouldn’t opt for the parachute?????? T_T
Reg Spyder said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 21:15
Luke, the price per mile here includes replacing the expensive L-Ion battery pack after 1000 cycles. This accounts for the bulk of the cost. In your example with the prius you only take into account fuel costs. Add in the same battery replacement cost and it’s much greater than this plane.
James = tard said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 21:25
James you might be retarded.. The point was to emphisize how cheap this plane operates, not to compare it to cars.
Jeff said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 21:50
Even if it does cost more to operate than a Prius or comparable econobox, it’s an AIRPLANE, man. You get the fun of flying an airplane coupled with operating costs people can actually live with. What’s not to love?
Lately my aircraft has been burning 15 gallons per hour of 100LL Avgas to do around 150 kts / 172 mph. This would be a great lower-cost option for people who want to fly for fun without breaking the bank.
RickyBender said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 21:56
I’d buy one and then fly it instead of driving and like land it and stuff.
pete said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 22:29
With a top speed of 90 mph, this is definitely not an ultralight. According to the electraflyer.com web site, they already have an airworthiness certificate (but just the “experimental” required for flight testing, which they haven’t done yet and which would be required for a full “normal” or “utility” category certificate). So this is a “real” airplane (ultralights are too, but not from a regulatory point of view
).
Of course, as a real airplane, it means you need a pilot certificate of some sort to fly it. But it’s small and slow enough that the simple Sport Pilot certificate would do. If you can really get one of these for $20K, or even $30K, I predict it’s going to be a big hit.
It remains to be seen whether that’s the actual price though. The batteries alone are going to be expensive, probably five figures.
There have been lots of “revolutionary” aircraft announced. Most never fly, never mind make it to the marketplace. I’m not holding by breath, but if ElectraFlyer can prove the concept, this sounds like a wonderful plane and I won’t be able to wait to fly one.
dkraft said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 23:17
YO ! Green farts.
the batteries are $4500 and last for 100 cycles. Put that in your “not in my back yard” equation and SMOKE IT..
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again –
“The electric mile will ALWAYS be more expensive to the environment and your wallet than the petroleum mile.”
Case Closed.
again.
Jon said on Monday, September 8, 2008, 23:22
Put some thin-film photo-voltaics on the roof/wings. First to fly around the world in a day wins!
Donny said on Tuesday, September 9, 2008, 1:58
I like all the math, but the biggest expense as I see itn is parking. My driveway leaves something to be desired, a runway.
Andy said on Tuesday, September 9, 2008, 2:08
Yes, maybe cheaper in the long run, but count in the flying lessons required to be certified and you have a pretty hefty starting cost. Airtime is very expensive.
aweba said on Tuesday, September 9, 2008, 4:08
The price list on the website looks like it doesn’t include avionics. I can’t tell you how much that is, but it is a meaningful monetary part of any plane purchase.
“ykjay,”
A problem with the ‘quick swap’ option would likely be weight. This is an ultralight and it only carries one passenger. Batteries are heavy, and distance on planes is always limited by weight. You never know if the thing could even take off with extra weight from batteries, or if it has space to carry them for that matter.
linus said on Tuesday, September 9, 2008, 9:17
I want to know its payload capacity.
I’m afraid it is much smaller than cars’.
Is it really enviroment-friendly?
Kwoff.com said on Tuesday, September 9, 2008, 11:56
ElectraFlyer – environment-friendly aircraft with electric motor for under 30k…
The ElectraFlyer C, an electric ultralight plane available now if you want to plonk down 21000 $ max, bang it all up together, and take it on a relatively silent 2 hour flight….
coyote said on Tuesday, September 9, 2008, 12:23
Where’d I put my daughter’s booster seat?
Don said on Tuesday, September 9, 2008, 16:17
Wow, looks like they breathed new life into the Monnett Moni design. Wonder how long before we see electric J-3s? LOL. I think it’s going to be limited to single place unless electric motors get alot more powerful and batteries alot lighter….
mike said on Tuesday, September 9, 2008, 22:02
It’s not fair to compare it to the costs of a car – any car. The comparison is to the cost to operate a regular airplane. With constantly rising gas, many people have trouble continuing it as a hobby. It becomes too costly. This is what brough Ultralights out in the 80’s to 90’s. I’m just glad to see the power to weight ratios are getting to where a plane can be powered for a decent time frame. Things should only improve with demand.
huhwha said on Thursday, September 11, 2008, 13:16
Random: How about a helicopter instead? Or some type of VTOL implementation?
And a chart showing the efficiency curve with respect to weight of cargo would be great. Unfortunately, in these systems, the variance of the passenger can make a big difference to performance… at least, I would presume. (with/without parachute, 120lb vs 180lb pilot, etc = efficiency variance)
l_reason said on Friday, September 12, 2008, 19:57
What a fantastic little plane! All the similar comparable light single place aircraft that cruise at 70mph are burning 10-25 l/hr. I would love to see a light 2 place plane powered one or two light electric motors. If its possible to achieve a two hour range and 80mph it would make a fantastic primary trainer for new pilots. With the right aircraft design you could replace the batteries after flights to shorten the turn around time. I think flight schools would jump at the opportunity to have electric planes. I’m an aircraft owner, airline pilot and flight instructor.
The Wright Flyer was more or less a useless aeroplane, but not a bad start.
dave said on Wednesday, February 11, 2009, 18:15
Wow !! Thank God we dont give out pilot certificates as easy as Driver License’s. Can you image all the dumbass Earthling, Killing them selfs, for godsake stay out of my airspace
Scott Moody said on Monday, March 30, 2009, 16:07
The ElectraFlyer-C is only a prototype aircraft and will not be sold as a production plane nor as a kit. EAC is, however, working on the 2-place model that will be sold as an LSA (if FAA classification is approved) and also as a kit.
The good news is, the one and only ElectraFlyer-C will be auctioned off very soon. Keep an eye on the website for more details http://www.electraflyer.com.
Tom said on Wednesday, May 27, 2009, 5:43
I wonder what kind of armament this plane can be equipped with……..air to air? fifty cal.? potatoe gun? I think the idea of an electric plane is great….. I simply prefer the time-honored power of a gut rumbling internal combustion engine over the humble (and meak) whisper of a ceiling fan to pull me around the sky. Constant speed prop?…… lets not get hasty……. maybe in a few years.
hunter walton said on Friday, October 23, 2009, 23:02
is there any possible way that i can buy the motor only