El-copter - Volocopter

Story of the Week

German Start-Up Building Electric Two-Seater

 

E-volo, a Karlsruhe-based company that is developing the Volocopter VC200, hoped to be the first electric two-seater in the rotorcraft world, has received significant support from German authorities. A new aircraft category is being created, while subsidies are boosting the project. In 2011, E-volo flew a single-seater, thus claiming the first flight of an electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft. French-Australian engineer and commercial helicopter pilot Pascal Chrétien, who flew an electric helicopter two months earlier (see "Designer of Electric Helo Reflects on 2011 Flight Tests," Rotor & Wing, November 2012), is formally contesting the claim.

“The innovative concept of an electric VTOL convinced the supreme authority for aviation in Germany, the Federal Ministry of Transport, to such an extent that it has commissioned a two- to three-year program for the creation of a new category in aviation,” company manager Alex Zosel told Rotor & Wing. The German Ultralight Aircraft Association, the German Sports Aircraft Association and the civil aviation authorities will work with E-volo. They will define “a new manufacturing specification” and rules for where and when the Volocopter has permission to fly. They will also issue training specifications for future pilots.
 

After “extensive endurance testing of the cabin, the landing gear and the rotor array,” test flights of a VC200 prototype should begin in the middle of this year. They will take place on a glider airfield in Bruchsal. This is where the factory of DG Flugzeugbau is located. A specialist of gliders, DG Flugzeugbau will build the airframe in carbon-fiber composites.

The VC200 will be lifted by an array of 18 rotors. E-volo targets a speed of “over 54 knots,” a ceiling of 6,500 feet and a maximum takeoff weight of 990 lbs. Today’s battery technology would only allow 20 minutes of electric flight. Therefore, like Chevrolet has done with the Volt electric car, the VC200 will be fitted with a “range extender.” A piston engine will run at constant rpm, driving a generator that will charge the batteries. This will make the VC200 a serial hybrid aircraft.