The World’s first Electric plane named E-Fan on 9 May 2014 successfully completed its first flight. The first flight was carried in Bordeaux, France.
E-Fan was manufactured by the Toulouse-based Airbus. It is a small experimental aircraft and is powered by 120 lithium-ion polymer batteries and can fly with speed of 220kmph. The length of the E-Fan is little more than 19 metres and makes a noise lightly more than hairdryer and is co-friendly profile.
An hour flight with the E-Fan will cost only 16 US dollar as compare to 55 US dollar for a flight in a petrol powered plane of the same size. E-Fan will bring the cost of travel down by more than a third and reduces the carbon emission. It is a step towards greener, quieter and cheaper.
Some of the obstacles of E-Fan when compare to larger aircrafts
• Relatively low speed
• Small size
• Flight duration is restricted to a few hours
The manufacturers may further develop the technology to make larger aircrafts that would be powered by a hybrid system.
The manufacturer plans for two versions of the E-Fan
• Two-seater E-Fan 2.0 will be a fully electric training aircraft
• Four-seater E-Fan 4.0 will be used for both training and general flight purposes and will be powered by a hybrid system
About Solar Plane
First prototype Solar Plane named HB-SIA successfully completed its first flight on 7 April 2010. The plane was entirely powered by the solar energy by charging its batteries. The flight was conducted for 87 minutes and it reached an altitude of 1200m. The plane successfully fled across Europe, Mediterranean Sea and the United States.
The plane was developed at the ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE-EPFL
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