With Tesla now promising 90-second battery swaps, a “recharging” tactic first tried by Shai Agassi’s A Better Place, an Israeli company now in bankruptcy, the long recharging period for electric vehicles may be overcome. Car companies, though, are not the only entities looking for ways to get unplugged. Presented at the 20th Congress of the “Club des Villes et Territoires Cyclables” in Nice, the Alter Bike is a collaboration of three French companies: Cycleurope, a specialist in bicycles; Pragma Industries, a specialist in hydrogen; and Ventec, a specialist in battery management. They tout the advantages of this different approach to electrifying two-wheelers – an approach that seems to have applications even in electric flight. “No more charging time, no need to plug your bike into an electrical outlet! The Alter Bike uses hydrogen in a fuel cell: an existing technology in some cars, it can create electricity while emitting only H2O, in other words water.” “Refueling” looks like changing an oil filter …
Reanimating a 30-Year-Old Canard with an Electrical Charge
The CC01e, a tiny, single-seat canard design by Frenchman Claude Chudzik, flew for the first time in 30 years years, now powered by an Electravia-supplied motor system. Taking off from Nangis airport, team member Frederic Laude gingerly guided the airplane on its single circuit of the field. He reported some tendency to “marsouine,” or porpoise, of which he’d been forewarned, and managed to keep the pitch oscillations in check. Based on the team’s report on their blog, he accelerated to 60 knots (69 mph), pulled lightly on the stick and “jumped” off the runway. You can see the porpoise-like bobble immediately after lift-off, and Frederic’s ability to get things under control quickly. Once on track, he reached 94 knots (108 mph) in the pattern and managed a reasonable landing on the craft’s single-track landing gear. Originally flown with a 25-horsepower two-stroke engine, the aircraft has been reconfigured for a Lynch-type, 50-horsepower motor, controller and battery package supplied by Electravia. …