Kmac

Most here chose Mooney, some fairly recently, even over a much newer SR20. Why is that? More efficient? Lycoming? Metal over composite? Retract? Looks? A P51 Mustang is an old design but if you could buy one for the same price then fly it for ¼ the cost of a Super Tucano; I would...

If you purchased the Mooney explained on the fisrt page of this thread with the RRP260D motor you could have a full 350hp at 25k ft... That should move along pretty good...

He built the first Roadsters on ICE Lotus Elise chassies. A new design would only be marginally better and take forever to bring to market at outrageous $$$.

I can agree that an electric aircraft probably isn't better for the environment considering all factors but an airport that is considering closing down, especially because of lead contamination or even noise might not... An airport closing could be the difference between deciding whether to buy an airplane or not. Perhaps, with the advent of electric aircraft, new airports could even open.

There are a couple of topics on here that I've copied to my personal computer for faster access and to have a few answers to similar questions in the same place. I guess that is a good thing if someone ever decides to delete them. I am also unsure if the wayback machine would have access to deleted topics. Internet Archive: Wayback Machine If so I suppose you would just have to guess around the date that you thought you read about the topic.

I deleted a post yesterday. I posted a thought that I had on collecting static electricity to extend the range of electric aircraft. I wasn't sure if I posted a patentable idea, so I deleted the post. I re-posted it after I did a patent search which showed that a patent was awarded in 2014. Edit: I re-read @aggiepilot04's post and this is about entire topics not single posts.

Just yesterday I had a thought that since aircraft create static electricity and have static wicks and sometimes even witness St. Elmo's Fire that there may be a way to harness some of that energy to extend the range of electric aircraft. I deleted a post that I made on that because I wanted to verify that there was a patent on it first. There is already a patent claimed by Ion Power Group awarded in 2014. Apparently high voltage low amperage static electricity can be collected but the amount that would come off a traveling aircraft would probably be insufficient to extend range beyond carrying the equipment to do so...

I've charged at probably 75 different superchargers and I don't recall seeing an Electrify America charger near any of them. I do recall some Chargepoint chargers but they were only level 2... By the way...I spoke about the VW's I drove previously. They were all diesel vehicles which were purchased back because of dieselgate. Part of that settlement was $2 billion that went to install Electrify America chargers. Whenever you see an EA charger you can think of VW and dieslegate... Tesla developed their plug before there was even a standard. https://thedriven.io/2018/10/10/tesla/amp/ It is also much more aesthetically pleasing than the other versions that have now become standard... You don't use a Tesla charger at home? Why would you have a Tesla and charge at an Electrify America charger? I don't disagree that older Mooney's look older... Soon, though, you will be saying that about any aircraft that has an ICE engine and not an electric motor...

Tesla didn't win that...Tesla, until recently, was the only electric vehicle that you could purchase that had any acceleration and respectable range. Tesla is still the only manufacturer that installed its own charging infrastructure... When you buy a Tesla you buy the charging infrastructure with it...with any other manufacturer all you are getting is an electric car...they don't care if you can charge it.

While we're at it... Adding solar panel sheeting to the wing of an electric aircraft could extend range and charge the aircraft while on the ramp. A Mooney could accept about 150sq ft of solar panel sheeting while each square foot would provide around 15 watts of power per hour. In good conditions your Mooney could add 2.25 kWh every hour. Flying to the beach for a day and parking on the ramp for 10 hours would add back 22.5kWh. If you fly somewhere for a week getaway and leave your Mooney on the ramp you could potentially have a full charge... Just an example...175 Watt 12 Volt Flexible Monocrystalline Solar Panel | Renogy

@Schllc Sorry about the confusion...I can explain in further detail... When you charge at home you take power from the power company to charge your electric vehicle. There are charging losses that occur from your meter to actually getting the power to your battery. The electric company may charge you for say 50kWh while your car only charged 45kWh. At a supercharger if your car battery actually accepts 45kWh Tesla charges you for 45 kWh even though Tesla may have to pay the power company for 50kWh. The same would be the case for an electric aircraft that you charge in your hangar. It may take 230kWh from the electric company to charge your 220kWh battery to 100%.

Seeing values of used Tesla's, I placed an order for another MY back in September. We are slated for a June delivery. Our 2020 MY with 40k miles (who knows how many when we sell it) will be worth the same as our new MY order price.

Very nice... Skyvector also sent me a ball cap simply because I uploaded some pictures of some airports.

It is hard for me to critique your driving style without the specifics... What was your average charge percentage when you started supercharging? What was your average charge when you completed supercharging? There is a huge difference in charge time going from 10%-70% compared to 30%-90%...when your battery is nearing 70% charge there are still plenty of electrons to find and it doesn't take long to find them...when you are nearing a full charge there are less and less electrons to find and change polarity; that's why it takes longer... You can tell your software to remove charging stops, and very often, my software tells me that I will arrive with -2% or something but as I continue with the drive the number changes and I end up at my destination with 3, 4, or 5% Usually the best way to go faster in an EV is to slow down...try to skip a charging stop all together... My Tesla is perfect for the driving that I do 350 days per year... I can "suffer" through a little extra time on cross country trips the other 15 days per year... My father in law had a heart attack during the largest snowstorm this year...I had to pick up their dog and obviously used my Tesla...it was one of the best performing cars in the snow I've ever had... it is very rare that the snowplows can't keep the snow depth below 5" on the roads...

I'd like to know what caused the experience to be so bad. My MY has over 40k miles on it. My trip to Florida is 1,150 miles and I've done it 4 times... My trips have increased from 18 hours to 20 hours... My trip to NC is 650 miles and I've done it 6 times... My trips have increased from 10 hours to 11 hours... What the heck happened?!?!

True that there are losses in charging, however, charging at a Supercharger only charges you for the kWh your vehicle accepted, they don't charge you for their losses. That is part of the reason that charging at Superchargers are more expensive.

Not the version I propose...you would need to stop... Here is your new trip: - You would fly for about 2 hours (320nm) and use 180kWh (which you paid $25 for) - Land at an airport along your route; the software would calculate how long you would need to charge at the Supercharger only needing enough charge to get to your destination, plus reserves, (the software would know if you are on a VFR or IFR flight plan) If VFR you need enough charge to go 180nm plus 30 minutes). You would need to add about 75kWh to finish your trip while charging at a 250kW charger would take 20 minutes and cost about $22.50. Your flight will still take 3.5hrs flying time, 20 minutes charge time and about another 15 minutes take off and landing time... I would say you are looking at 4:05 for the same flight and a total cost of $47.50...

You have to start somewhere...

I am not sure how many pilots are like me out there... I stated in another thread, I'd rather buy a new B model Mooney @ $500k than an IO-550 powered, fuel guzzling, ultra complex unit... I fly for fun, I'm not IFR rated and have no plans to do so...there is no way I would stay current...I fly when it is nice out and, when traveling, arrange my schedule to remotely work until I can make the trip home in good weather... Can't more people do that now and reduce get-there-itis? There are already options for high performance single engine aircraft and if I wanted one I would buy a Cirrus over a Mooney M20V, however, I would buy a new M20B, if available, over a Cirrus... An M20V and a Cirrus SR22 does 300% of my mission...aren't you supposed to buy the aircraft that does 90%?

I have read that he is "all of the above" to transition to sustainable energy. If that is true, he would need wiggle room in that statement... Well, the way things are progressing nobody will have a choice... A good reason to stick with the design at the beginning of this thread instead of designing a marginally better new aircraft at billions of dollars... All that engineering and certification cost has to be passed on to the customer... I would buy the Mooney from the first page of this thread for $500k, maybe slightly more...

+1...that is one specific thing I was trying to avoid with this plan...

Awesome information... You began to explain earlier, but how much could you change the Mooney TC without having to register an entire new TC? Could you change from an aluminum wing to composite? Could you change from a steel roll cage to something else instead or also? I am just trying to save the most amount of time and money on engineering/certification costs... Obviously, now that I know, the PC is really what is worth the $$

You betcha... 100LL is dying...or being killed... ICE is dying...or being killed... Our airframes are dying... Mooney is on its absolute last gasp... GA is dying...probably quicker that we all like to admit or realize... Now here is an idea, albeit grandiose and slightly out of the box... I would sell everything and move to Kerrville to help make it work... Elon/Tesla, are you listening?

You are probably not referring to me, as I don't think I've been defending him... All that is needed is Musk/Tesla to purchase Mooney...I'll go operate the new Mooney factory for him...access to the capital, batteries, and software are all that are needed... I'm guessing @Sabremech would love to design another new cowl...

@A64Pilot is correct You could be building 1,000's of airframes and taking literally thousands of deposits while you produce the electric STC... Would you rather put a deposit on an a Mooney, where Tesla has purchased the company and says they will create an electrification STC? or Would you rather put a deposit on any other aircraft that is almost certainly never going to happen?