FEATHER Motorglider Powered By Purpose-Built Electric Powerplant

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), is continuing its multi-discipline approach to developing an electric-powered airplane, and has developed a proprietary powerplant designed specifically for that purpose.

The CAFE blog reports that it has installed such an engine aboard a Diamond motorglider, along with wing pods that hold Lithium-ion batteries that power the motor. The pods are designed to provide a safety factor in case of thermal runaway. The batteries reportedly can provide power to the motor for takeoff and climb at full power for one to two minutes, then a circuit of the pattern at about 1,000 feet, and landing.

The JAXA newsletter Flight Path describes the motor as being equivalent to the Rotax engine it replaces in the motorglider, dubbed FEATHER (Flight demonstration of the Electric Aircraft Technology for Harmonized Ecological Revolution). The agency says the aircraft weighs 1,870 pounds and will cruise at speeds between 62 and 93 miles per hour for about 15 minutes before having to be recharged. 

Testing on the aircraft began in March of last year, and is expected to continue through 2015.

(Image provided by JAXA)

FMI: http://global.jaxa.jp/