Miguel Iturmendi has been exploring the stratosphere and beyond in the Perlan 2 sailplane and his Helios Horizon electrically-launched craft. He flew in the Perlan 2 sailplane in 2018 to over 65,000 feet, and more recently took part in a demonstration flight in that aircraft. His ongoing efforts with the Horizon are increasing altitude records for electric aircraft. He lives in Florida, where he leads the Helios Horizon project and works on the aircraft, a modified Pipistrel Taurus electric motorglider. For record flights, he takes the craft to Minden, Nevada, where the Perlan 2 resides when it is in the States. The most recent flights took place near Bishop, California, a location for many historic soaring flights. The spring test campaign demonstrated several flights between 17,500 and 24,000 feet on battery power. The team never used more than 60 percent of the total pack’s energy, indicating future flights could go higher. (After all, you have a sailplane in which you …
Gogoro Goes Solid State
Gogoro, a Taiwan-based scooter and battery system, has added solid state chemistry to its swappable batteries. This increases the stored energy in each 9 kilogram (19.8 pound) pack from 1.7 kilowatt-hours of the current liquid electrolyte to 2.5 kWhr. These packs are light enough for a small woman to handle, as shown in Gogoro’s promotional videos. Growing GoStations Swapping batteries on Gogoro’s own scooters is quick and convenient, with over “10,000 battery-swapping GoStations at over 2,300 locations,” by the firm’s own count. They serve over 450,000 riders with over 340,000 daily swaps. Powering 95-percent of all electric two-wheel scooters on the island nation, they’ve “hosted” more than 260,000,000 total battery swaps to date. Gogoro boasts their “Network subscribers have swapped over 140 million Smart Batteries without incident since 2015.” The number of GoStations is close to exceeding the number of gas stations on Taiwan. A joint development between Gogoro and Prologium, the new solid-state batteries fit the existing modules in …
Pipistrel Velis: Part of an Electric Heritage
The Pipistrel Velis is the culmination of 13 years of electric aircraft development and the first to gain certification by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on June 10. Pipistrel has been in the electric airplane business since 2007 when it announced the Taurus Electro motorglider, which entered service in 2011. That aircraft went through several iterations, and is still part of the Pipistrel lineup of electric planes, which includes the Alpha Electro Trainer, the Panthera Hybrid, and the new Velis. Alpha Electro Trainer in SoCal An electric version of the Alpha Trainer, the Electro has been in production since 2015. With an empty weight of 615 pounds (279 kg) and a maximum take-off weight of 1,212 pounds (550 kg), it is a bit heavier than the Rotax-powered gas version, and carries about 100 pounds less payload. Both have similar performance, though, with rates of climb around 1,200 feet per minute. Joseph Oldham started a well-organized, well-intentioned operation to …