The real deal ------ Electric vs Gas...

[folgado]

I love electric power but I wonder why we don´t see more electric planes in events such as TAS, this year as far as I know there were only one (Bernd Beschorner).

Is this just a question of price, or the gassers are simply more efficient and practical??

Please give me your thoughts.

[rcflier]

It would be interesting to have some details of the motor / speed controller / battery system Bernd was using. Anyone know this, or have a link to a website detailing this?

Thanks,

[SleepyC]

I think the cost is still too high.
Once the cost comes down a bit, I think you will see more.
With the quickness of some of the rounds, I'm sure you would need to have at least 4 full packs of batteries, and that's around $2500 a pack... so.. that is a lot of batteries!

But performance wise I can say that he had to dial in LESS power from his motor. It is THAT powerful.

pics.

[adrian]

	Quote: Originally Posted by rcflier
	It would be interesting to have some details of the motor / speed controller / battery system Bernd was using. Anyone know this, or have a link to a website detailing this? Thanks,

yes please me too - i have a brand new BVM Edge 35% and want to go electric with this one 100%

[sun.flyer]

More info. on Bernd's electric setup can be found below:

http://www.plettenberg-motoren.com/UK/erfolge.htm and the below video:

YouTube - Bernd Beschorner - Interview

Tim

[ericb]

That is cool. Very neat how it mounts in front of the cowl.

[Flyfalcons]

Are you truly comparing a 10K power system with a 2K power system and wondering why one is more popular than the other?

[TeamFlatout]

Its really expensive right now. Plus 2500 for a pack will buy you a ton of gas instead of electricity.

[zzw26n]

I would like to hear from Dave Jones / DSP, he's done allot with electric Airplanes. I would think that there is a threshold of payback. e.g. .40 Size Elec. = .40 Size Glow in Cost?

[AEROCOLOR]

Dave and I have worked on a couple of electric projects in the past year and have had a ball with them. The largest for me so far is 50cc size and a couple of 100" plus wingspan scale planes both 10s and 12s configurations. I believe Dave is planning on something bigger this winter. The concerns are weight and battery cost. The good thing is we are experiencing tremendous improvements in power and durability on batteries, motors and speed controls so reliability is not much of a concern if set up properly.
Battery cost can be helped by having the latest charging setup and being able to charge faster and at higher rates especially on the newer more efficient paks available today. Bringing two or three packs to the field with the right charging setup and you can get a lot of flights in one day.
As far as the competition guys are concerned they normally fly back to back flights during practice so gas is really the only option unless you have an unlimited battery source.
Electric flight is very cool and still growing each year. Just look at the electric heli industry and how it`s grown. Awesome!

Bill

[folgado]

Try to forget about the money, which solution is the best?

Put it like this:

If somebody wants to offer somebody a 2,6 m gas or a similar electrical one with unlimited batteries and gas stock.

No money! It was all for free, which one would you prefer?

One of the biggest disadvantages that I see in electrical setups is that they cannot maintain power, give one to Jason Noll and make him doing those phenomenal full power rolling circles for minutes, firstly, you would run out of batteries before the 4 min freestyle, secondly and even worst, if the batteries did no run down, they would for sure not having enough power for the last part of the freestyle routine.

See my point...

[AEROCOLOR]

Ok.... That comparison has been done. There are several top pilots out there able to fly gas or electric and only Bernd has stuck with it. Some others have worked out some of the setups necessary but most have pursued it as a novelty/noontime demo show. Anyone know of a nationally known pilot flying only electric aircraft other than Bernd?
As for power, Bernd doesn`t seem to have a problem getting through those long rollers and completing his flight. Remember the batteries are far superior to what we had just a couple of years ago along with the speed controllers being able to take the abuse of longer applications of wide open throttle.