Elektra One Electric Airplane

We regularly report on new advances in electric cars, and you've maybe seen some of these electric bikes. The Elektra One is an all-electric single seater airplane weighing in at 440 pounds with a full contingent of batteries. The plane recently performed two test flights in Augsburg, Germany. This is the first successful flight of this design and marks it's imminent entry into the European market. Calin Gologan is the CEO of the company marketing the electric aircraft, PC-Aero.

With these first test flights completed, PC-Aero plans to get more than three hours of flight time out of this design. The propeller only spins at 1,400 RPM, keeping this a very quiet, and hopefully efficient, flight. "The three hour endurance goal translates to more than a 400 km (~250 miles) range according to PC-Aero."

The 100,000 Euro price tag would net you not only the plane, but the hangar and charging system as well. PC-Aero plans to package the planes with hangars built to provide the Elektra One with solar charging. Gologan believes that 215 square feet of panels will give the Elektra one 300 hours of flight time per year without drawing any juice from the grid.

[via Autopia]