The UK Tests The First Electric Plane That Can Charge Its Batteries
During Flight
A new hybrid-electric aircraft, the first ever to be able to recharge its
batteries in flight, has just been tested in the UK, the University of Cambridge
announced in a statement today.
The plane uses a "parallel hybrid-electric propulsion system," where an
electric motor works with a regular petrol motor to drive a propeller. It's just
been trialled at a test site in Northamptonshire.
According to Cambridge engineers, the plane uses 30% less fuel than a
similar model that only uses a petrol engine. More importantly, the new design
can also recharge its batteries during flight - something that's never been
achieved before.
"Although hybrid cars have been available for more than a decade, what's
been holding back the development of hybrid or fully-electric aircraft until now
is battery technology," project leader and Cambridge professor Paul Robertson
said in a statement. "Until recently, they have been too heavy and didn't have
enough energy capacity. But with the advent of improved lithium-polymer
batteries, similar to what you'd find in a laptop computer, hybrid aircraft -
albeit at a small scale - are now starting to become viable."
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