The Pipistrel Taurus G4 Also Ready For Electric Flight
Challenge At AirVenture
After a very challenging two years of planning, design and
development, Pipistrel has publicly released preliminary
information on their new aircraft, which will be competing in the
upcoming 2011 CAFE/NASA Green Flight Challenge with a $1.65 million
prize on the line. The aircraft will also participate in the
EAA AirVenture Electric Flight Challenge, carrying a $60,000
prize.
The Pipistrel Taurus G4 has rolled out of the Pipistrel factory
in Slovenia for the first time a few weeks ago. After two years of
extensive development and research the 'CAFE Racer' as it has
become known, posed for the camera and then rolled off almost
silently under electric power for the first taxi testing and start
of the flight testing program.
Pipistrel's involvement and success in the last two CAFE/NASA
challenges have taken a 180° turn with the design of this new
and very special aircraft which has no similarity with the Virus SW
which was successful in the previous two challenges. This aircraft
is completely new. Pipistrel says it's the first four-place
electric aircraft to be flown in the world, just as Taurus Electro
was similarly the first two-place electric aircraft to be flown
some four years earlier.
This unique design has come about by grafting two Pipistrel
Taurus aircraft together with a center section which is some 15
feet wide, and includes a center pylon housing the electric engine
and batteries. In some way, the design bears some similarity to the
twin Mustang fighter, and even WhiteKnightTwo.
The aircraft is powered by a 145 kW brushless electric motor
which is centrally positioned between both fuselages and drives a 6
foot diameter custom two-blade propeller. The total wingspan is 75
feet, making the aircraft wingspan not much smaller than a DC3. The
undercarriage is retractable and the aircraft has extremely good
gliding capabilities. Pipistrel note, however, the G4 is not
designed as a glider, but as a very efficient airplane utilizing
electric propulsion.
The goal for the development of this aircraft is to enter and
hopefully be successful in completing the 2011 CAFE/NASA green
flight challenge which is held between July 11 and July 17, 2011 at
the Santa Rosa airport in northern California and then also
competing in the EAA AirVenture Electric Flight Challenge held at
this year's Oshkosh event just a few weeks later. Pipistrel's Tine
Tomazic has described the aircraft as a "technology demonstrator."
Tine is one of the main development engineers on this project and
he is also the test pilot who has put the aircraft through the test
flight program. Tine has also lead the design team for the
electrical design and control systems in this new aircraft, but he
is still very reserved at disclosing the full performance figures
and flight capabilities of this exciting new machine before it
debuts in the 2011 CAFE/NASA Green Flight Challenge.
Tine says this is "the most powerful electric aircraft currently
developed, it has the most battery capacity on-board and it is also
the first four-place aircraft to be flown under electric power."
The empty weight of the aircraft is 2,348 lbs with 1,036 lbs of
this being batteries, the maximum takeoff weight is 3,300 lbs,
giving the aircraft payload of 959 lbs ... making it a real
four-seat aircraft.
Tine said the CAFE Racer is purely a proof of concept aircraft
which Pipistrel is using as a testbed for many of the same
technologies which will be introduced into the recently announced
Panthera aircraft, which is available with a normal gasoline
engine, as well as hybrid and fully electric mills. After the
completion of these competitions, it is expected the aircraft will
be sold to someone who wants a very unique aircraft for personal
use, or to a company wanting to further investigate future
propulsion technologies on an already proven airframe with the
ability to quickly replace or substitute the propulsion system.
The Pipistrel Taurus G4 will arrive in the USA in the first week
of June for registration, certification and ongoing testing before
the start of the CAFE Challenge in July.