Continuing to work on the article I wanted to get an idea of what the weight was per minute of flight time. If someone wanted a machine that flew for an hour, for example, what would that weigh? How about if an instructor putting a beginner on it only needed 10 minutes?
To make this easier I added to the spreadsheet these calculations. You can enter the desired flight time and it will show how much the battery capacity would weigh as well as the fuel. The empty gas motor and no-battery electric motor weight is included so I (or any user) can see to machine’s all-up weight.
Any input as to the logic or defaults would be greatly appreciated. My deadline is Friday. Ed Ewing (editor) is excited by the prospect of this machine and what it offers as am I. We want the most accurate, real-world information in the article.
Looks good, If people are wanting to fly an hour or more then the batteries can change because we don’t need the high discharge one we are using now and we can go for some higher energy density batteries with lower c ratings. But if you used the current batteries that look like that’s about what you would be looking at.
I think your calculations are sound based on everything presented in this forum.
It it worth noting for your article that specific energy is increasing year over year. That is, if we as hobbyists can get access to high end cells for EVs. The Bonka’s are around 190Wh/kg if I recall.
Current generation EVs already have cells that beat that by a lot. Approaching 250Wh/kg according to reports about Tesla cells. The new Nissan Leaf cells are ~220Wh/kg.
The takeaway here is that an electric PPG will only get better with time!
