Urban Mobility Takes Shape with Italdesign and Airbus’ Pop.Up
Leave a reply
SEA Converting Ground Fleet to Electric
from Passenger Terminal World ~ passengerterminaltoday.com
Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac) has launched a US$31m (£19m) project to convert all its vehicles on the airfield from fossil fuels to electric power, which will save millions of dollars and tons of greenhouse gases at the US airport.
As part of the project, Sea-Tac will install nearly 600 electric charging stations that will power the airport’s ground support equipment, such as baggage tugs, bag ramps and pushback vehicles, which are being converted to electric power.
Converting the airport’s entire fleet of ground support equipment from fossil fuel to electric is projected to save US$2.8m (£1.7m) in airline fuel costs each year and 10,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually – the equivalent of taking 1,900 cars off the road.
“This project provides the infrastructure for airlines to convert their vehicles from diesel to electric in Sea-Tac’s effort to become the first major airport in the US to provide charging stations at all gates,” said Courtney Gregoire, co-president, Port of Seattle Commission, which runs the airport. “As many as 650 vehicles could eventually be covered by electric technology and make a huge difference in the airport’s carbon footprint.”
The port has installed bright yellow charging stations with fast-charging plug-ins for vehicles to receive a full charge in less than four hours. The technology determines which vehicle needs the most charge and metres out the power accordingly.
The first phase of the project will provide 296 charging locations throughout concourse D, C, and the north satellite. The second phase will cover the rest of the terminal at concourse A, B, and the south satellite, bringing the total number of charging locations up to 576 by September this year.
The project is a joint effort between the airport, Alaska Airlines, and Western Washington Clean Cities, an organisation dedicated to promoting the use of cleaner domestic fuels. Alaska Airlines said the transition is expected to save Alaska Air Group about US$300,000 (£182,000) a year in fuel costs.
20 March 2014
Solar Impulse ready to fly across America
On May 3rd Solar Impulse, the Swiss solar powered airplane, will depart from San Francisco with Bertrand Piccard in the single seater cockpit, to complete the first leg of its coast-to-coast flights across the USA. It is the first time that a solar airplane capable of flying day and night without fuel, will attempt to fly across America.
Best wishes to Bertrand, Andre and the Solar Impulse Team!
Meet Project Zero, the World’s First Electric Tilt-Rotor Aircraft
Photo: AgustaWestland
European helicopter maker AgustaWestland has unveiled the world’s first electric tilt-rotor aircraft and says it has already made several flights.
Like the more famous Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey, the new electric aircraft can take off and land like a helicopter, but fly like an airplane. It’s called Project Zero, and it follows AgustaWestland’s belief that tilt rotor technology is the best layout for the future of fast vertical lift aircraft.
“We strongly believe in the tilt rotor concept as the future of high speed rotorcraft flight,” said Daniele Romiti, CEO of AgustaWestland. “It offers much greater speed and range than compound helicopter technology.”
AgustaWestland is no stranger to tilt rotor aircraft, having taken over the AW609, which was formerly known as the Bell Agusta 609 civilian tilt rotor aircraft. The AW609 resembles the V-22 Osprey but is smaller and has a pressurized cabin. Unlike the Osprey or AW609, which mount their engines and propellers at the end of each small wing, Project Zero has two integrated rotors within the wingspan of the aircraft. The rotors are entirely electric powered and can be rotated more than 90 degrees.
Its first flight was made in Italy in 2011, and was unmanned completed while the aircraft was tethered to the ground. Additional untethered test flights have been made since then. The rotors are horizontal during take off and landing, providing lift via the thrust produced. During cruise flight, the rotors turn and act like propellers on an airplane, and most of the lift will be produced by the horizontal wing. The wing tips are detachable for missions when the aircraft’s primary use will be as a helicopter.
AgustaWestland didn’t provide any specs on the aircraft. Although Project Zero is a technology demonstrator, a hybrid version is under consideration. A diesel engine would drive a generator to keep the electrons flowing. When the aircraft is on the ground, it can be pointed into the breeze, allowing the windmilling blades to supplement the recharging batteries.
Electric Aircraft Are Here To Stay
Analysts See Growing Market For Electric Aircraft
Examples Range From Sailplanes To Hybrid Helicopters Powered By Solar Energy, Batteries
A new study from ASD Reports examines the possible future role of electric aircraft as part of the aviation landscape. The report posits that electric aircraft serve the need for reduced noise, air and ground pollution and reduced global warming.
According to the report, electrically propelled manned aircraft are selling profitably today in small numbers. They take the form of pure electric fixed wing microlights and motorised hang gliders. At the other extreme, airliners that have electric nosewheels have arrived making them electric vehicles when on the ground, hugely reducing noise and air pollution and making them independent of tugs. Yet that is only the beginning and the story is now rapidly unfolding across the whole industry – with Europe often in the lead. Europeans flew a two-seater fuel cell aircraft, a pure electric stunt plane and a manned hybrid electric aircraft with a Wankel engine in recent years.
2011 saw the world’s first pure electric helicopter fly in France and then the world’s first pure electric multi-rotor volocopter fly in Germany. 2012 saw the world’s first pure electric flying boat in the air in Finland, a fun product, now being sold as a “flying jet ski”. A saleable amphibian, hybrid electric aircraft has been seen in the air over Norway and it is now being readied for production. UK organisations are helping Boeing to make a fixed wing unmanned aircraft that stays aloft for five years, the airframe and ultra-lightweight motors having lessons for manned aircraft design.
A European manned solar aircraft has flown intercontinentally on sunshine alone. Now one is being made in Europe to circumnavigate the globe on sunshine alone. Regenerative soaring is a reality and that is leading to work on capturing wind energy aloft and beaming it to earth. No, that does not break the laws of physics. Solar powered electric airships are being developed in Europe and the U.S.
In Europe, there is much work on hybrid helicopters starting with adding electric powertrains to conventional helicopters so they execute a controlled landing when the transmission fails – the electric vehicle as a parachute if you will. In addition there is much work on hybrid helicopters that can take off and land silently in all-electric mode. Aircraft design will never be the same again after the pressure to perform previously impossible missions, save the planet, reduce local noise, air and land pollution and reduce dependency on foreign oil.
In short, the electrification of manned aircraft is transforming the whole industry and now there is a new report specifically on this with one on unmanned electric aircraft soon to follow. The reports give market size, timelines, company profiles, analysis of the many new components being used and when others will be viable and much more.
(e-Volo image (top) provided by the company. Image of prototype during first flight (lower) provided by ASD Reports)
www.asdreports.com
SolarWorld e-One
Congratulations to PC Aero and SolarWorld for the test flight of their new SolarWorld e-One!
Here is a video of that flight:
According to the PC Aero website, the energy driving the electric motor is generated with wing-based crystalline solar cells from SolarWorld and a lithium-ion battery. PC-Aero joined forces with SolarWorld to build the SolarWorld e-One. Powered by a solar-electric motor, the new airplane generates no CO₂ emissions or noise, thereby laying the foundation for a new era in aviation history.
Be sure to stop by and see the plane at AERO Friedrichshafen in April
Driving the Mercedes B-Class F-CELL
Today I drove the hydrogen powered Mercedes B-Class F-CELL
Talking with Jaimie Levin, Director of Environmental Technology at AC Transit, about the hydrogen fuel cell program.
TWiT TV episode on Green Tech Today 23: AC Transit
Electric Planes flying at Green Flight Challenge!
e-Genius flying at NASA Green Flight Challenge. Image by Wernher Krutein / Photovault.com
We’re here at the NASA CAFE Green Flight Challenge on the third and final day of testing. The initial thirteen teams are down to four participants – three competitors and one demonstrator. Two all-electric planes are flying: e-Genius from Germany and Pipistrel Taurus G4 from Slovenia. An efficient piston plane, the PhoEnix from the Chech Republic, is the third competitor. And the first electric hybrid plane, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University’s EcoEagle, is flying as a demonstrator.
Pat Anderson of Embry Riddle Aeronautical University explains the workings of the EcoEagle to Erik Lindbergh and Jean Schulz at Charles M. Schulz Airport
Against the noise of the planes and jets taking off in the background, the silence of these planes is amazing. To emphasize the importance of this attribute of electric flight, on Saturday night LEAP will announce the winner of the first annual Lindbergh Prize for Quietest Aircraft at a celebration banquet hosted by CAFE Foundation. For more information about this prize, go to www.lindberghprize.org .
While the testing was not open to the public, there are plenty of media here to capture this history-making event, and we’ll post video to this website in the near future. On Saturday, there will be an all-day public open house here at Charles M. Shulz Sonoma County Airport. Be sure to come out and see these incredible planes, and the people who have designed, built and flown them.
On Sunday the planes will move to Moffett Field for Monday’s Google Green Flight Expo hosted by NASA Ames. The winner of the Green Flight Challenge will be announced at noon on Monday at NASA Ames.http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/events/2011/10_03_11-expo.html
~ by Yolanka