EVS28

KINTEX, Korea, May 3-6, 2015

Electric flight – history – state of the art and first

applications
Muntwyler Urs*, Andrea Vezzini**
*Berne University of Applied Sciences BUAS, CH-3400 Burgdorf, urs.muntwyler@bfh.ch
**Berne University of Applied Sciences BUAS, CH-2500 Biel, andrea.vezzini@bfh.ch

Abstract
The next challenge for the electric drive trains is the third dimension, heavier than air. After an analysis of
the air transport we can see a strong growth (33 million tons of kerosene in 1980 and about 600 million
tons of kerosene in 2030).
In 1973 the first battery powered plane made its first flight. The technical challenge for the electric flight is
the energy density of the battery. In the last 10 years a lot of new projects have been developed. This was
possible with the availability of high energy Li-Ion-batteries. There are still some advantages for e-flight.
The first niches are light planes as gliders, hang-gliders etc. There are two popular concepts: battery
powered electric airplanes and solar powered airplanes. There is still a market for e-flight today. With
hybrid planes the commercial air traffic for small regional planes could be entered in about 2030.
The Berne University of Applied Sciences (BFH-TI) is active in the field of e-flight. The university is very
active in power electronics, renewable energies (mainly PV), battery technologies and automotive
technology. These activities are concentrated in the “Institute for Energy and Mobility Research”. The
background for the e-flight was the successful technologies for racing solar cars in the 80-ties and 90-ties.
This was used for the powertrain and the electronics for a first electric glider, the “Antares”. Some of the
actual projects are an “acrobatic plane” and a “hybrid plane” for four passengers.

Keywords: electric flight, electric gliders, solar plane, hybrid plane, market niches

1 Introduction planes heavier than air, with a special look for

market niches. Some projects of the Berne
Electric drive trains are more and more successful University of Applied Sciences BUAS will be
in land and water transport1. Due to the high presented too.
efficiency they can replace combustion engines
and run on renewable electricity2. Motor powered
planes however are mainly driven by fossil fuels. 2 Air traffic a small part of
The weight restrictions for a plane and the high transport energy consumption
power demand for the start makes it difficult to The energy used for air traffic is part of the
use an electric drive train. Actually two concepts energy for transport, one off the biggest use of
are used for the electric flight: battery powered energy (other are buildings and industry).
planes and solar powered planes. Actually 7% of the transport energy is used for air
Since the first electric flight of a plane heavier traffic (IEA). Annually 1,6 billion passenger uses
than air in 1973 a lot of new concepts would be the air traffic. 30 million tons are transported by
developed. Some are produced in very small the air traffic. There are strong growths: in 1980
numbers. The electric drive in planes heavier than 33 million tons kerosene were used. In 2012 the
air will need even more time than the automotive consumption was 205 million tons of kerosene.
sector. A careful selection of market niches will The air traffic is about 3-times more relevant for
help to enter the third dimension with electric CO2 emission than the traffic on earth.
drive trains. The main focus of this article is

EVS28 International Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exhibition 1

The prospects for further growth are big. For 2030
a consumption of 600 million tons of kerosene are
projected. 4.8 billion passenger will use the air
traffic and there will be 2-time more planes in the
air. The tax system does not touch international
air traffic. This acts as a push for even more use
of kerosene against other public transportation
systems as railways, buses etc.
Figure 2: How EADS (Airbus) sees the electrified
3 Technical challenge of e-flight future in about 2030 (see chapter 7)

3.1 Energy needs for small planes

3.3 Additional energy for safety
Planes need a lot of power for the take off. This is reasons
less a problem than the consumption during the
flight. A modern small plane with four seats is as Planes need not only the fuel for the trip. They
the Aerospool WT10 Advantic. He has a common need an extra energy reserve to fly a holding if the
internal engine combustion Rotax 914 and need landing has to be delayed. They also need a
about 15 l/ h fuel by a moderate cruising speed of special reserve for an alternate airport if the
240 km/h3. This is similar to 150 kWh. Even with planned airport can’t be used.
a very high energy density battery of 200 Wh/ kg
we get a battery weight of 750 kg. This is the 3.4 Niches for e-planes
maximum weight of the whole airplane. The E-planes can therefore not replace normal planes.
original plane WT10 Advantic can store 2x63 l Even the better energy efficiency is not enough.
fuel which is enough for a range of 1’300 km or For one hours flight with about 60 kW we need a
about 5 hours of flight. This shows that we have bigger battery than 60 kWh which has a weight of
to rethink the concept for an electric plane. 300 kg. This is 2.5-times bigger than the gasoline
tank of the WT10 Advantic.
3.2 Passenger planes E-planes are actually restricted to either short trips
Passenger planes need also a lot of energy. with regular charges or more realistic an exchange
Modern planes needs about 2-3liter/ 100km which of the batteries. Applications could be:
is quite efficient. But due to the high speed, the - a lift off for a glider, hang gliders or
long distances and the number of seats of such paraglider
plane we need big and heavy batteries. Such - basic training purposes around the airport
concepts are under suspicious of the group For other purposes a hybrid concept could be
“Bauhaus Luftfahrt”, a german think tank for new considered. This could be a series hybrid. Here we
possibilities in air traffic. They presented some could have a smaller engine which is optimized
concept plans under the assumption that in 2035- for high efficiency and low consumption. The
2040 much more powerful batteries could be used power for the propeller will be produced by a high
(up to 2’000Wh/ kg – 10-times more than now). efficiency electric motor. This motor is lighter and
smaller than an ICE. This could be an advantage
in the design of the plane. For commercial
applications hybrid planes could be the first step.
Airbus announced to build such a hybrid
commuter planes in 2030.

3.5 Technical niche for small planes

Electric drives are more suitable in small light
planes. If we take a glider as the DG 400 with a
retractable two stroke motor of Rotax the
additional weight is about 90 kg without fuel. The
similar plane without motor is the DG 200/ 17C.
Figure 1: E-flight study “Claire-Liner” (Bauhaus
With 20 Liter gasoline the plane can climb about
5’000 m. For a launch on an airport and a lift to
Luftfahrt)
the thermal upwinds 1’000 to 2’000 m are

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enough. With the total weight of the motor system
and the gasoline of 110 kg we can use an electric
drive. With 60-80 kg and an energy density of 130
Wh/ kg we get 10 kWh capacity. This is enough
to use a 40 kW DC-Motor for about 15-20
minutes. Such a glider can climb about 3’000 m.
Electric motor need no warm-up time. This often
very long “warm-up” time of internal combustion
engines (ICE’s) airplane motors, needs gasoline/
time and place. This can be saved with an electric
motor.
Figure 4: The HB ME-1 from Brdlitschla and Militky
on his successful first flight on a man powered e-plane
on 21st october 1973 in Wels (A)

4.2 Solar electric powered planes -

Solarplanes
The next remarkable electric planes had a
different concept. Using the power of a battery
this allows only flights for some minutes. The
American aerodynamic pioneer and glider world
champion from 1956 Paul McCready built human
powered light weight planes. With the Gossamer
Albatros I plane the American pilot and cyclist
Figure 3: Three DG 400 with retractable 2-stroke motor Bryan Allan accrossed the channel between
produced since 1982 England and France on June 12, 1979.
For very light planes, powered hang-gliders and
paragliders the electric propulsion is an interesting
option. The market offers packages with battery,
controller, motor and a special propeller. On the
general aircraft faire “AERO” in Friedrichshafen
in Germany the “electric flight” occupies at least
one full exhibition hall.
Figure 5: Gossamer Penguin (left picture) and Solar
4 History of E-flight Challenger (right picture)
The first use of an electric motor in an airship was
done by the French balloon pioneer Gaston In 1980 Paul McCready built with his company
Tissander in 1883. Other pioneers tried to use AeronVironment several solar powered planes.
electric motors in airships and motor planes but With the Solar Challenger he flew 1981 from
weren’t very successful. London to Paris in 5h23’. AeroVironment built
several unmanned solar planes called “Pathfinder/
Pathfinder plus/ Centurion and Helios”. These
4.1 Battery powered electric planes
planes had huge wings up to 75,3 m (Helios) and
The first successful flight with an electric plane up to 14 electric motors. The idea was to reach
was done by Militky and Brditschka with the HB great heights up to 30 km. This could be enough
ME-1 on October 21st 1973. The NiCd-battery to stay several days in the air and to be an
powered ME-1 motor glider flew 9 minutes in alternative to satellites etc. The latest plane, the
Wels (Austria). Helios crashed in 2003 in Hawaii. He had
problems with the steering and the structural
problems

The next remarkable solarplane was built by Eric

Raymond in 1990. Raymond was in the GM

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sunracer solarcar team of Paul McCready, which
won the first Solar World Challenge in Australia
in 1987. His solarplane “sunseeker” had thin film
solar cells. He acrossed the United states in 1990
and used a small battery pack for the takeoff.
From 2002 to 2006 Raymond built the Sunseeker
II. In 2009 Eric Raymond crossed the European
Alps. Actually he is working in Slovenia and
builds a 2-seater electric plane.
Figure 8: Solar Impuls I HB-SIA

The most spectacular project actually is the “Solar

Impuls” from the Swiss Bertrand Piccard and the
Belgian André Boschberg. They crossed the
world in a hot air balloon in 1999. As a PR-Tour
for the use of solar energy in a future energy
system they started the project “Solar Impuls”. A
first prototype, the “Solar Impuls” HB-SIA had
his first flight on April 2010 in Payerne (CH). In
2011 the “Solar Impuls I” flew from Payerne to
Figure 6: Eric Raymond Sunseeker I which crossed the Brussel. In 2012 he flew from Payerne to
USA in 1990 Ouarzazate in Maroc. In 2013 the plane acrossed
the USA. These were all world records for solar
Since then many different solar planes were built. planes. Now the team builds the Solar Impuls HB-
They are all prototypes. Known planes are from SIB which should fly around the world in
the german Professor Günther Rochelt, the “Solar different legs. The plane can fly in the night with
I and II” built between 1980 and 1996. some battery he charges during the day. The plane
The most successful solar plane was built by the is huge with a span of 72 meters (Airbus 380-800:
“Institut für Flugzeugbau” from the University of 79,75m). The trip should start in summer 2015
Stuttgart. The “Icaré II” plane based on a fuselage from Abu Dhabi.
of the successful glider ASW 15 and had a special
wing with solar cells. This plane won the 4.3 Some technical considerations for
“Berblinger competition” of the city of Ulm (D) solar planes
in 1996. Professor R. Voit - Nitschmann made a
flight over 350 km with the plane. I presented A solar powered plane has much more power than
1998 on the “solarsaloon exhibition” in Zürich a human powered plane. On a surface of about
some projects from Italy and Germany. This was 10m2 which is a typical for a standard class glider
the first exhibition with different solar planes in you can produce a maximum of 10-20 kWp. With
the world. With the exemption of the “Icaré” from this power a light efficient plane can fly on a
the University of Stuttgart, I assume that most of constant height. In practice the full power will
these planes never were flown. never be reached because of lower sunshine,
wrong angels of the sun etc. Together with a
storage battery for launch flights for several hours
by sun shine are still possible. This very similar to
a glider which normally also uses the sunshine to
get the lifts.
A real commercial use will be difficult to find.
Such a “solar plane” could be interesting for
hobby applicants similar to gliders.

5 Battery powered Light wings

with electric drives
Figure 7: The Icaré II from university of Stuttgart in
As explained earlier light planes, “trikes”, hang-
1998
gliders etc. with a small light battery powered

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motor are widely presented and used. In this
market the production numbers are small. Even
very popular gliders hardly reach a total
production figure of more than 1’000. The most
popular glider with a retractable 2-stroke motor,
the DG 800 reached about 500 planes produced
since 1990.

6 Battery powered planes with

electric drives
6.1 6.1. Overview – some of the actual
prototypes and series planes Figure 10: View into the DC - motor of the Antares
There are many models, mainly prototypes. Some 20E
of the more know planes and their performances
are mentioned here:

6.2 Self-launch glider with electric

motor systems
The first electric glider with a retractable electric
motor is the Antares 20E from Lange
Flugzeugbau in Germany. Mr. Lange worked for
the glider company DG Flugzeugbau (DG 400/
800 etc.) and started his own company. He has an
electric drive train from the Berne University of
Applied Sciences BUAS (Prof. Dr. Andrea
Vezzini). The motor has a maximum power of
about 40 kW. With Saft Lithium battery the glider
can climb more than 3’000 m asl. This is enough
for most of the glider applications. The Antares
20E plane himself is situated in the “18 m span
racing category” and has a very high performance
(glider ration over 1:50). Advantages of this plane
against the models with combustion engines are
the high reliability, lower noise, now fuel
involved and a low price in the use, especially due Figure 11: Small propeller beam with retractable motor
to the lower maintenance costs. and propeller system of the Antares 20E

Figure 9: Antares 20E electric glider in Puimausson (F)

– after the launch the propeller and the motors goes
into the fuselage

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Table 1: There are two gliders with a retractable electric motor (Antares and Silent models) and two prototype E-
planes, the Yunec planes and the ElectraFlyer-C

Lange Flugzeugbau now builds a 23m span

version the Antares E23 with even better flight
performance (glider ratio 1:56 by high cruising
speed). They deliver their electric motor system to
competitors as Schempp - Hirt. Their double
seater “Arcus E” has the similar electric drive
system as the Antares 20E. The maximum lift
with one charge is about 2’000m.

Lange Flugzeugbau use their expertise in electric

flight for research projects as the hydrogen
Antares DLR-H2 experimenal plane with a range
of 750 km. The research partners for the new
research project the Antares DLR-H3 is the
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V.
DLR. The expertise in fuel cells should be used Figure 12: Model of the Antares DLR-H3 which should
for APU’s (auxialiary power units) for an Airbus make 6’000 km range with the fuel cell
320.
The Italian light weight glider “Silent 2” from
AliSport has two electric versions. The glider is a
light weight glider with only 13.3 m span. The
new “Silent 2 Electro” has a foldable propeller in
the nose of the plane. This makes the whole
construction much easier. But the propeller
diameter is reduced to 1 m to get a certain
distance to the ground. The motor power of 22
kW is enough to lift the small plane with a total
weight of 315 kg into the air. The battery capacity
(lithium polymer - LiPo) is 4,3 kWh. There are
two battery packs each with 15,5 kg. The
maximum lift is about 1’500 m per charge.

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 climbing rate of the E-Genius rate is 4,5 m/ s. His
range is more than 400 km with a cruising speed
of 140 - 200 km/ h. The concept looks like a big
two seater - glider. The motor has a peak power of
72 kW and a constant power of 40 kW. The four
battery packs have a capacity of 56 kWh. For
cruising at constant height the E-Genius needs
about 10-20 kW. In autumn 2014 the german
glider pilot Klaus Ohlmann flew several world
records for electric planes with the E-Genius from
his airstrip in Serres (F).

6.3 Some technical considerations for

electric gliders
For gliders an electric motor is quite attractive.
The combustion engines are very costly. They run
only a small number of hours. A typical glider
has about 10 motor hours a year for a plane which
Figure 13: The Silent 2 Electro glider from Alisport Srl fly’s 100-200 hours in a year. Every 25 hours or 3
(Italy) years there is a special control required. After
about 300 hours there is a very costly overhaul by
In 2014 a high performance glider “Ventus-2cxa” a certified service company needed. This is
from Schempp-Hirt would equipped with a FES mainly due to the high vibrations of the motor in
electric motor system. Similar to the Silent 2 the use. An electric motor system could be therefore
propeller is foldable in the nose of the glider. The much cheaper in the service cost. The cost for
use of the motor system is for additional lifts if energy is not a big difference due to the low use
the upwind are not enough. The glider needs still of the motor. For the electric drive the electric
a launch by a plane or a winch. Other makes as outlets on an airport could be a cost factor too.
the “HPH 304” (CZ) also offers this This is a new requirement for an airport and
configuration. This demonstrates that electric should be checked before.
propulsion systems are more and more entering In the use, the reliability of the internal
the market similar to electric cars. combustion engines (IEC) is a relevant factor. If a
motor system is blocked by a technical problem or
the motor doesn’t start, the pilot is in serious
troubles. The workload of the pilot in such a
situation is very high. Especially for not very
trained pilots is this a serious threat which caused
some accidents in the past. In contrary the electric
drive system can be totally automatically (as in
the Antares 20/ 23 E).
The higher weight of an electric glider is an issue
mainly for competition pilots. High performance
gliders fill water in the plane to have a higher
Figure 14: Concept electric plane E-Genius from weight, which get them more speed. If the upwind
University of Stuttgart conditions get worse, they can dumb the water
and lose less height by a lower speed. In an
A new concept from the “Institut für electric glider the additional weight leads to a
Flugzeugbau” from the University Stuttgart is the higher speed but can’t be changed.
E-Genius. The two seater plane had this first An advantage is the lower noise level of the
flight on mai 25th 2011 in Mindelheim (Germany). electric motors system. The motors with internal
The E-Genius is a research project similar to the combustion engines are very noisy even if they
ICARE II. He flew the Green Flight Challenge in pass all the tests. On some air strips starts over
the USA in 2011 an won several prizes. The span noon are forbidden because of the noise. On the
is 16,86 m and the gliding ration is 1:34 at 140 airport of the town of Olten (CH) planes with
km/ h. The maximum weight is 950 kg. The fuels are forbidden because of the groundwater

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reservoir under the small airstrip. The gliders are In the last 10 years many new electric planes
normally towed by a winch. Now some pilots made their first flight. One of them is the French
bought an Antares 20E and can fly now from the Electravia “BL1E Electra” which started first in
airstrip without all the handling for the winch. Aspres-sur-bueches on December 2007. It was the
For gliders electric drive systems offers some first licenced plane in the world. He had a
advantages. We can expect that in this small “Kokam” LiPo-battery and an 18 kW motor.
market the electric drive goes on. The airplane company Boeing presented in 2008 a
double seater “Dimona” with fuel-cells and an
7 Battery powered general electric drive.
aviation planes with electric The Chinese company “Yunec” announced the E-
drives 430, a two-seater presented 2009. The plane
As explained before for planes it is very difficult should be cheaper than conventional planes. The
to find an application outside some concept E430 was announced as the first commercial
planes. But in the last year I could easily identify electric plane in the world. The plane will be
more than 10 projects. First commercial e-planes marketed by the US-company Greenwing, which
will be delivered in 2015. accept now first orders.

One of this planes is the ultralight plan, the

“Elektra One”. On the Aero 2014 exhibition the
company PC-Aero GmbH (D) presented the
“Elektra One UAS”. This plane is based on the
“Elektra One Solar”. With batteries the Elektra
One UAS has a weight of only 130 kg. The wing
has a span of 13 m (optional 15 m). High efficient
solar cells are on the wing. This gives a maximal
power of 2,4 kWp. For cruising speed the plane Figure 16: Two seater Yuntec E-430
needs 2 kW. The range could be very long on a
sunny day, up to 1’000km. The company PC- In 2013 the same companies announced a ultra-
Aero GmbH works on a two seated version, the light plane the E-spider. He got the certification
“Elektra Two”. They work also on a unmanned by the german DULV in 2013 as first plane in the
version “SolarStratos” for research and flight in world. The full price is about 35’000 US$ in
the stratosphere. All planes are prototypes. Europe. With a 24kW motor and a 13 kWh
battery he can fly 1-1,5 hours.

Figure 17: E-spider from Yuntec and marketed by

Figure 15: The “Elektra” planes from PC-Aero and the
GreenWind International (USA)
overview of all the models:

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Table 2: some electric airplanes of today

Advantages for electric planes are the low noise There is a small step for electric planes to
level. The high efficiency of the electric drive unmanned planes and drones. Here a broad range
leads to much lower cost per hours. Together with of observation up to military applications is quite
the lower maintenance costs this could be an common. From here it’s a small step to helicopter
important point for users. If the recharge problem and multicopter designs. Here low noise is an
could be solved, it could be interesting for important point. Such a concept is the german
training purposes to start with electric 2-seaters. “volocopter” a 2-seater multicopter with electric
Instead of a fast charge, a battery exchange could drive.
be a solution. It would need more than one battery
pack per training plane, but the charger could be
smaller and the needed grid power too.
The commercial plane producer Airbus is also
active in the field. They started their own
company for electric planes called VoltAir. The
first plane “E-Fan” has an interesting
configuration for the motors and the propellers in
a fan-construction on the rear of the plane. This
saves energy through the lower air drag
resistance. Actually the E-Fan can fly about 30 Figure 19: German project Volocopter a 2-seated
minutes. Airbus could see the production of a multicopter with E-drive
hybrid electric commuter plane in 2030.
8 Projects of the Berne
University of Applied Sciences
BUAS
The Berne University of Applied Sciences BUAS
in Biel was very active in solar car racing in the
80- and 90-ties. This know-how was transferred
into the aircraft technology. So the electric system
of the Antares 20E (Lange Flugzeugbau) was
developed at the BUAS in Biel. The motor system
is similar to high efficiency solar racing cars.
Figure 18: Airbus VoltAir “E-Fan” first flown in 2014

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Since then, other concepts were supported by the
team of Prof. Dr. Andrea Vezzini. 9 Conclusion
E-flight is the next step for electrification. First
applications are still on the market. It starts with
electrified gliders, E-trikes and -hanggliders. Then
electrified lightweight planes will be the next step.
Hybrid planes could expand the possibilities of
the E-drive. If we consider that each plane
destroys a lot of energy with his air brakes for
landing, we could also imagine that we could use
the propeller for this purpose and recuperate the
energy into the battery. For commercial planes
fuel-cell “APU’s” and electric drives for the
Figure 20: Project for an electric acrobatic plane – here ground movement could be the next step. In
the conventional model contrary to cars the production numbers will be all
ways very small. This offers another opportunity
Actually we are working on a concept for an to tackle the market.
electric acrobatic plane. The concept and first
studies are ready. The budget is about 1 million Author
US$ for the prototype and we are working on the
Urs Muntwyler is the co-founder
financial support for the project together with a and manager of the „Tour de Sol,
producer of such planes. The plane should be as 1985-92“ in Switzerland, the first
competitive as electric acrobatic models. The solar mobile race in the world.
motor power of 200 kW is a big challenge for the Since 1999, he is the Chair of the
batteries. Here we are looking for high density “Implementing Agreement Hybrid
high power batteries over 200 Wh/ kg in a 10-15 & Electric Vehicle Technologies
minute discharge. and Programs” of the International
Energy Agency. Urs Muntwyler is
professor at BUAS and a passionate
glider pilot since 1978, flying now a
high power DG 808C.

References
1
Annual Report 2014, Implementing Agreement
„Hybrid- and electric vehicles”, IA – HEV,
www.ieahev.org
2
„EV and PV“, Urs Muntwyler, EVS 26, 2012
3
Pilot Report WT10 Advantic, Aerokurier 8/ 2014
page 18ff.

Figure 21: Smartflyer picture – four seater with hybrid

configuration

Another project we will support, is the

“Smartflyer” from the Swiss aircraft captain Rolf
Stuber (CH). This 4-seater hybrid electric plane
should have an electric drive for the launch. For
longer distances an optimized internal combustion
engine works as range extender and produce the
energy for the generator. The concept is similar to
a Chevrolet Volt.

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