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Electric propulsion for trikes
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I think about the safety aspect of flying with a battery . There have been Teslas that have caught fire by self combustion , battery failure . When those batteries ignite , you wouldn’t even have enough time to get the seat belt off before the pilot would be engulfed in flames . Ever see the fire department try to put out a battery fire, it almost impossible. I have also seen where someone parked their tesla in their garage and the car self combusted caught fire and burned down the house down . There are electric buses that have caught fire . What if you have a hard landing and your battery shorts to ground ? Your going to have a fire and if it just your trike that burns that ok , but if burns your hanger mates Icon 5 up your going to to have a lot of trouble .
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I do love the thought of an electric trike. First i want to say that i have a ton of battery operated tools and made some electric bicycles about 12 years ago. The Fuel brushless tools are so dependable. As technology has increased and batteries keep getting better the electric motors will be the way to go. So with that being said, most of my flying is long distance so I would have to say i would be concerned with run time. I do tons of exploring with my trike (REVOLT) and often fly 2.5 hours before I land, My bladder limits me, not my trike. I fly a ton in the mountains and use ridge lift all I can. I love using free energy and love the thermals. A light trike flying in the thermals would be a kick. If i had a really light electric trike I could see myself doing all kinds of stuff with it. I love to fly low and I would probably use it to surf the ridge lift and thermals in Arizona. I haven’t flown in three days and I need to get out there and fly. 🙂 Batteries are my main concern for an electric trike. I have had lifepo4 failures and I am not that much up on the latest batteries. Gosh, it feels like forever since i flew last. 🙂 ha ha.
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There are days I think I will just go for a quick flight before I go to work. Next thing I know It has been hours+ and I am stopping at another airport to empty my bladder and get fuel to keep flying. This would not be possible in a electric trike. You could Stop and Wait for it to charge like you would for a Prius or volt but do you have that much time? I also do training so it just would not be practical in that sense. I do think there is a place for them. I can see a single seater like maybe convincing Larry to build a Rev or RevX model as a good way to go if your not planning on long distance flying. ( That was a hint Larry) Now If they came out with a quick change battery, like swapping out your Dewalt or Milwaukee battery and you could carry a extra on board, that would be sweet. Right now it is hard for me to think about a electric trike when I love flying my Revo.
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Hi Skyrunner,
I have thought about electrifying my ATF, but for now will be sticking to my gas engine mostly due to the ease of use. There is a guy back east that has been producing electric paramotors for a few years, and his latest design is quite powerful called the SP140 which would have plenty of thrust for a 103 legal trike.
I found this in his FAQs:
“Is just the motor and battery available to buy on its own?
The battery or motor can be bought by themselves to mount to another frame. The motor, ESC, and battery are the highest cost components. In order to make electric paramotors affordable we worked hard on making the frame low cost to manufacture. Where as other gas paramotor frames will cost around $2000 we make ours for around $500 So ordering everything but the frame will not save the typical high cost expense of the frame.
Also the Sp140 is purpose built to allowed batteries to be easily swapped and make a seamless experience.”
His website if https://openppg.com/
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