Originally published at: MagniX Launches New GA-Focused All-Electric Engine
Aviation tech developer aims to lower operating expenses for training aircraft through electric integration.
“MagniAIR electric engines…can be used for any application currently powered by a 120-175 kW piston engine.” Isn’t power in traditional piston engines normally expressed in horsepower (hp)? Which piston engines would qualify as 120-175 kW?
Well if you do the math at 746watts/HP, 120K watts -175K watts would be about 160-235HP.
What’s the battery life and time to charge? In training fleets by schools, aircraft are flying 8 hours a day or more. Second, how would a student do a cross country in an electric plane? This all sounds great and puts a smile on the tree huggers faces, but until battery technology makes HUGE advances, it’s still impractical.
They’re a long way from anything feasible. If you do the math, you’ll find that for a C-172R, a battery with 300 wh/kg big enough to power the plane for one hour in cruise (about 65% power) plus 30 minutes of Day VFR reserve would weigh about 800 lb – about equal to the airplane’s useful load, leaving nothing for payload (like pilot and passenger/instructor).