ELECTRIC aeroplanes have been busy breaking records. On July 10th Airbus’s E-Fan, piloted by Didier Esteyne, became the first twin-engined all-electric aircraft to cross the English Channel. At least, that is the firm’s version of events—for about 12 hours earlier, Hugues Duval, another Frenchman, had made a round trip from Calais in his twin-engined Cri-Cri electric plane. Airbus discounts Mr Duval’s flight on the grounds that he was towed aloft by a conventional plane. Meanwhile, Pipistrel, a Slovenian producer, was prevented from turning up to show off its single-engined electric trainer because Siemens, which supplied the motor, refused permission for it to be used over water.
The first person to cross the Channel in any sort of electric plane was Paul MacCready, an American aeronautical engineer, who made the journey in the flimsy Solar Challenger in 1981. Although this aircraft used an electric motor to drive a propeller, it did not have a battery, for it obtained its power directly from solar cells. Another solar aircraft (this time equipped with batteries, to store surplus power) is now being flown around the world by a Swiss team. But after...
from The Economist: Science and technology http://ift.tt/1I5UK50
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