electric aeroplane

jac

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 1, 2007
315
0
i was surprised to read about a plane made by a company called sonex which is a two seater and flys for about 1hour on a charge it uses lithium batteries i really think lithium batteries are making big changes posible in transport

jim
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,761
30,348
At a price Jim. As kraeuterbutter has posted in here a few times, the sort of Li-ion batteries we use are cheap affairs with poor discharge characteristics compared with the top performing and very expensive ones used in these exotic applications.

For at least £600, possibly £800, I could have a great battery on my eZee bikes which would give a very high performance for a lighter weight. But of course it's not practical at those prices. Planes being expensive anyway makes the inclusion more possible I imagine.
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jac

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 1, 2007
315
0
can only hope they start flooding the market with lithium which as a material there is no shortage of and then we will see prices begin to drop hopefully the way laptop computers have

jim
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,761
30,348
Yes, I look forward to it Jim. I think in part the high prices for top quality cells is a self fulfilling situation, since they shouldn't be any dearer to make. If they just drop the prices to low levels, the sales would hurtle upwards and the cheap ones disappear.
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Brangdon

Finding my (electric) wheels
Aug 31, 2007
23
0
Nottingham, UK
Presumable some of the cost is R&D, and risk. Bike batteries may not be as esoteric as plane ones, but they are more esoteric than mobile phone batteries.
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,761
30,348
That's true Brangdon, but if prices are dropped and larger sales result, the R & D costs per item become very small.

A 9 Ah NiMh quality D cell shouldn't cost £10 or more retail, when a cheaper made one can be less than £3.

Far cheaper battery prices are a major key to greatly improved e-bike sales, given that the battery can be up to one third of the whole new bike price. Factor in the way in which bike manufacturers margin, shipping insurance, import duties, agent's margins and VAT are cumulatively applied to a whole bike on a percentage basis and all e-bikes have the potential to be as little as one third of their present prices, ranging from around £120 to £399 for bottom and top of the ranges. That would do wonders for sales, putting all of them into the area of impulse purchasing.
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