Earthstar Forums

Earhstar fans, would it be possible in the near future to do a retrofit to a electric motor/batteries on the two place Odyssey? I see that Harley Davidson is doing preliminary testing to produce an electric motorcycle. There are already other all electric motorcycles and cars in production, with more to come.

Skot

electric F1 cars doing circuits in universities too, like the solar car enthu

there's a firm working on BMS to extend battery life by 10x and beyond without switching off, if a cell or two goes low voltage; Same folks who made the 8kw/kg electric motor…

Aloha,
rc

The electric Harley is becoming a reality, and the motor is 74 hp, don’t know about the batteries, but they claim their 0-60 speed is quite quick. Now we have a new power source to pirate, and it seems like the right power for a 2-place plane like an Odyssey. Hey Mark! Are you on board with this??

Hi
There are several choices of motors for the Odyssey. This is a new posibility. It's just a prototype right now but might become a viable alternative.
Zero makes a 50 kW motor that is 67 hp.
Happy Flying,
Mark

Sent from my iPhone

Hi Skot
Yes!
Happy Flying
Mark

Sent from my iPhone

We initially thought we would need Zero's 40kW (54HP) motor to give
performance comparable to the HKS on the Gull. But Mark found that he never
uses more than 30kW, even when climbing aggressively. This has to do with
the different torque curve electric motors provide (much more torque at
lower rpm). So, I am going to use Zero's 30kW (40HP) motor on my eGull. It
would seem that for a two-seater (Odyssey, or tandem eGull), 40kW could be
sufficient. The problem is not the motor, but the weight of the batteries.
Yes, you can haul more battery with a stronger motor, but not very
efficiently - the better approach would be more wing span.

One issue is that the FAA does not allow electric propulsion for ELSA yet,
so it would have to be an Experimental (3rd class medical!). That is one
reason I intend to fly my eGull as an Ultralight.

Martin

i vote for a twin engine eOdyssey

Really really liked it when Mark stated on the website, many years back, that the Gull had been tested in the air for 5000 hours. Wonder how long has eGull flown since inception...

rc

Hi
The eGull total time on electric is 227 hrs. And it's been the most pleasant powered flying I have done.
Happy Flying
Mark

Sent from my iPhone

I think hybrid would be good - an electric motor to assist for takeoff and climb, the internal combustion engine for cruise. Twin engine safety as well:)


---In Earthstar_Aircraft@yahoogroups.com, <thundergul@...> wrote :

Hi
The eGull total time on electric is 227 hrs. And it's been the most pleasant powered flying I have done.
Happy Flying
Mark

Sent from my iPhone

direct hybrid with one engine and two electric motors; can't even wonder what the propellor transmission shaft assembly would look like:)

would be nice to imagine a serial hybrid with a controller mode to stream electrons directly to a motor

(off topic; are there sand grains of Pounamu greenstone too? got a friend in Hawaii at observatories, collecting teaspoons of sand for a scientist friend at sandgrains.com; 17 US sites, 1 Gobi desert, 1 Thar desert so far)

rc