Volare GT-4
- Thread starter LJS1993
- Start date
Inverted
Cleared for Takeoff
Well according to their site they only have 12 preorders left for the 2012 production year, sounds like they are producing.
LJS1993
Line Up and Wait
Do you feel this type of aircraft is something to look forward to in the future? Is this design legit or merely hype?
Does it come with Corinthian leather?
alfadog
Final Approach
I do not see anything on that site that would lead me to believe this is anything more than hype. Classy hype. But hype.
edit: here is some more:
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-04/inside-first-production-ready-electric-airplane
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So, it DOES have Corinthian leather!!
Let'sgoflying!
Touchdown! Greaser!
'20$ to go 200 miles'
'backup gasoline engine'
'testing starts this spring'
sounds wild to me but so did any kind of flying, about 150 years ago.
http://driveoregon.org/success-stories/volta-volare-in-popular-science/
Volta Volare has unveiled its GT4 electric airplane. Founder and CEO Paul Peterson explains in a Popular Science article that due to off-the-shelf electric-car batteries and motors becoming lighter, more powerful and increasingly efficient electric flight is now possible. Volta Volare will begin testing the four-passenger GT4 this spring. With a standard airframe, the plane runs on a hybrid powertrain similar to that in the Chevrolet Volt with batteries and a backup gasoline engine.
Benefits of electric aviation include a significant decrease in the cost of operation. A 200-mile electric-powered flight in a single-engine personal plane would consume about $20 of electricity, compared to about $80 worth of aviation-grade gasoline. Because an electric motor contains only one moving part, it is nearly maintenance-free. Peterson asserts that these drastic cost reductions, combined with shared-ownership models, could make personal aviation vastly more accessible.
Their FB page:
http://www.facebook.com/VoltaVolare
'backup gasoline engine'
'testing starts this spring'
sounds wild to me but so did any kind of flying, about 150 years ago.
http://driveoregon.org/success-stories/volta-volare-in-popular-science/
Volta Volare has unveiled its GT4 electric airplane. Founder and CEO Paul Peterson explains in a Popular Science article that due to off-the-shelf electric-car batteries and motors becoming lighter, more powerful and increasingly efficient electric flight is now possible. Volta Volare will begin testing the four-passenger GT4 this spring. With a standard airframe, the plane runs on a hybrid powertrain similar to that in the Chevrolet Volt with batteries and a backup gasoline engine.
Benefits of electric aviation include a significant decrease in the cost of operation. A 200-mile electric-powered flight in a single-engine personal plane would consume about $20 of electricity, compared to about $80 worth of aviation-grade gasoline. Because an electric motor contains only one moving part, it is nearly maintenance-free. Peterson asserts that these drastic cost reductions, combined with shared-ownership models, could make personal aviation vastly more accessible.
Their FB page:
http://www.facebook.com/VoltaVolare
Let'sgoflying!
Touchdown! Greaser!
Not dissimilar to the Velocity in appearance?
CT4ME
Cleared for Takeoff
Yup, very Velocity-like, 'looks like it would fly. Sorry, but it looks like they're using the same playbook that the Icon A5 guys have been using. The A5 was introduced SIX years ago, hasn't delivered one production aircraft, yet has got more press than all other aircraft combined. I smell a rat.
If these were even a year from delivery, you'd see full-size mock-ups, youtube videos, or something.
Anybody remember the NexAer? nexaer.com
If these were even a year from delivery, you'd see full-size mock-ups, youtube videos, or something.
Anybody remember the NexAer? nexaer.com
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EppyGA
Touchdown! Greaser!
So we're going to have an electric motor and batteries plus an internal combustion engine, size unknown, Hmmmmmm.
Anthony
Touchdown! Greaser!
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Complete and utter fantasy.
What makes a hybrid automobile sort of worthwhile is the fact that you typically operate a car on a stop/start cycle and operate the engine at low efficiency speed / load points. Just look at the City and Highway mileage numbers for a hybrid car and compare them to a conventional vehicle. The hybrid wins in the city where you do the stop / start and you have opportunities for regenerative braking and shutting the engine down for extended periods. But on the highway, you get little to nothing. Now, compare that to an aircraft operation. If all you do is work in the pattern, you may actually get something. Maybe. But on a long cross country where the engine output is at a constant 75%? All you get from going hybrid is a shorter takeoff roll and reduced useful load.
They talk about the expense of operating and maintaining a conventional ICE on the web site. Well, guess what is going to be motivating your butt on a cross country flight - a conventional ICE running a generator that runs the motor that turns the prop. So much for avoiding the expense of operating and overhauling.... Plus you have the inefficiencies associated with the series hybrid concept.
What makes a hybrid automobile sort of worthwhile is the fact that you typically operate a car on a stop/start cycle and operate the engine at low efficiency speed / load points. Just look at the City and Highway mileage numbers for a hybrid car and compare them to a conventional vehicle. The hybrid wins in the city where you do the stop / start and you have opportunities for regenerative braking and shutting the engine down for extended periods. But on the highway, you get little to nothing. Now, compare that to an aircraft operation. If all you do is work in the pattern, you may actually get something. Maybe. But on a long cross country where the engine output is at a constant 75%? All you get from going hybrid is a shorter takeoff roll and reduced useful load.
They talk about the expense of operating and maintaining a conventional ICE on the web site. Well, guess what is going to be motivating your butt on a cross country flight - a conventional ICE running a generator that runs the motor that turns the prop. So much for avoiding the expense of operating and overhauling.... Plus you have the inefficiencies associated with the series hybrid concept.
steingar
Taxi to Parking
The airframe pictured is not a Velocity. Smells wrong to me too. If they just want to put in a new power plant, why not take an established airframe an kluge it in? Moreover, a lot of the efficiency of electric motors comes from regenerative braking, which you don't have in aircraft. Might save money because you don't have to buy avgas, but plumb the thing for mogas and my guess is you'd spend the same. Electricity is not exactly free.