Quiet electric bio-hybrids may soon roam the skies
Faradair is a new Anglo-US venture dedicated to developing the world’s first Bio-Diesel Electric Hybrid Aircraft – BEHA. It is the world’s first true ‘Hybrid’ aircraft – an innovative triple box wing design combining electric motors & a bio-diesel. This is the first stage of a development programme to prove the concept and to adjust where needed, before building a prototype aircraft, that will also be fully UAV capable.
“This aircraft will be one of the most eco-friendly and safest aircraft in the world, costing somewhere close to $1m US Dollars per aircraft,” says Neil Cloughley, Managing Director, Faradair Aerospace Limited, “Plus our production facility will be equally environmentally focused.”
Faradair has started a crowdfunding campaign through Kickstarter to begin a development year with some of the finest Aero engineers in the UK, helping to fine tune aircraft’s design, with a focus on prototype and assembly facility to be built by 2016.
Combining a bio-diesel engine with electric motors, Faradair’s Bio-Electric-Hybrid-Aircraft (BEHA) is an innovative six seat Hybrid Aircraft that could revolutionise general aviation. The BEHA aircraft concept is currently building an impressive list of partners, many of which will be revealed in coming weeks but will include the renowned aviation engineering university at Cranfield, to help deliver key technologies to make the prototype aircraft a reality within the next two years.
BEHA has a unique and innovative design that has echoes of the world’s first Triplanes that took to the skies nearly 100 years ago. The aircraft will utilise twin electric fan motors delivering 200hp (horsepower) each, in combination with a 200hp bio-diesel generator that incorporates a pusher propeller protected within a duct to reduce noise and to increase safety. This aircraft will take off and land under electric power with the bio-diesel engine used in-flight to recharge the batteries and to provide increased cross country performance.
Of course, the aircraft will employ solar skin panels and wind turbine technology for energy recovery and provide a level of safety features including; ballistic parachute recovery fail-safe systems and a fuselage crash protection structure more commonly found in top level race cars.
