Vehicles fed by electricity will soon be limited to the ground, and the research in Canada progresses to electronic plans tests.
In Ontario, researchers at the University of Waterloo have associated with the Waterloo Wellington Flight Center (WWFC) to try Velis Electro, a small electronic plane that works with batteries similar to an electric vehicle.
The equipment is testing in the batteries of the electronic plane to see how well the flight can endure in different elevations and climatic conditions. They are also testing the capacity of the electronic plane for short -distance trips.
“We were flying through the Grand River … He was so beautiful,” News Mehridad Pirnia, principal researcher at the Sustainable Aeronautics Institute at the University of Waterloo in the Department of Science and Engineering of Management of the UW Management, told CBC.
He said that “he totally forgot about the strange nature” of a silent plane once he was in the air.
A ‘slow’ approach to battery tests
Pirnia said his team is using “a very slow approach” to test Velis Electro’s batteries.
“We simply start loading and downloading the batteries of the electric plane while they are on the floor,” he said.
Pirnia and their equipment then test the electronic planes making circuits, where the pilots take off, put the airplanes in high power until they reach 305 meters, make some circuits at that point and then land. Pirnia said they repeat those circuits seven times.
The equipment is doing higher aerial exercises and testing the ability of batteries by making interurban tests.
“We start flying to Guelph and returning with a position,” he said. “We had a charger installed in Brantford. From here to Brantford, charging the electronic plane, and then we returned again. We returned with about 60 percent of the load.”
Electronic Plans for Pilot Training
Zachary Taylor is a WWFC flight instructor that flies the Velis Electro for pilot training. He said in an interview that battery technology is what retains the electronic plane at this time.
He said that when the electronic plane flys for classes, “there is no decrease in discomfort, and perhaps it does not double in the lessons” due to the limitations in battery capacity.
“You simply stick to an article at the same time, and always [be] Aware of … how much load is on the battery essentially. ”
Pirnia said that the rank of Velis can depend on many factors, including power configuration, altitude, speed and battery reserve of the “electronic plane [be left] on the battery in case of emergency “.
“The plane can fly for 45 to 50 minutes more than 10 to 15 minutes of reserve, which can be translated at about 200 kilometers.”
The electronic plane batteries must be charged after each flight, but Taylor does not see this as a problem for flight instructors.
“If you were showing a lesson, as if you would return from your flight, you would throw the plane, watch and then you could inform the students,” he said.
“While that goes, theoretically, you could be informing with your next students. For when you are ready, your plane could be almost ready to work too.”
‘99% flights without emissions’: researcher
Electric vehicles are promoted because they are cleaner than traditional vehicles with gasoline. Pirnia said it is the same with electronic planes.
“Actually there [are] There are no emissions while airplanes fly or work, “he said.” The emission comes from the load of the batteries and depends on the network in which the battery is loading. “
Pirnia said that Ontario’s electricity is “quite clean”, using a combination of nuclear, renewable and gas sources. “With some type of reflective load time, we can even reach 99 percent of emission -free flights.”
Despite its potential, the Pirnia team is still waiting to test the Electro Velis battery in different climatic conditions.
“At this time, we don’t have the permission to operate the plane in temperatures below zero,” he said. “Based on the pilot operating manual (POH), the operational temperature range for Velis Electri is –20 C to 35 C”.
Pirnia said they have only tried the battery at higher temperatures at this point, but that “battery temperatures remain within the normal range” from 11 to 50 C.
“The cooling system worked as designed and the battery temperature remained stable.”
Electronic plans already in use
Other companies that are already working with electronic planes or that have shown interest in technology include a Harbor Air hydrophones company.
In 2022, CBC News reported in Harbor AirThat he had “his first direct point -to -point test … flying 74 kilometers in 24 minutes of a terminal on the Fraser River, near Vancouver International Airport, to a bay near Victoria International Airport.”
“Technology is there now,” Pirnia said. He also mentioned that Air Canada signed a contract to acquire ES30, a hybrid plane of 30 passengers.
CBC News contacted Air Canada to confirm the acquisition of these ES30 for possible commercial use.
An Air Canada representative told CBC News in an email that electric planes are still “in development and do not fly commercially.”
The representative also said that electronic planes “are still a few years after entering the service and it is premature to discuss how they will be implemented.”
“I really enjoy flying it,” Taylor said. “This plane, as we have, is a bit limited … is just a matter of this technology progressing.”
The electronic plans are currently only being tested for use during pilot training, but Pirnia said that the next step would be to approve the electronic planes for short -distance flights.
“The next thing is to have these accommodated electrical aircraft on regional flights actually,” he said.
“That would be the future, safe.”
