Electric Aircraft

Unusual three-wheeler can fly for only 10 minutes at a time.

Elon Musk has a lot on his plate, but tells crowd at Hyperloop Pod design awards ceremony that he's tempted to tackle his VTOL electric jet concept.

Hugues Duval just beat Airbus in a history-making battery-powered flight across the English Channel

Airbus has plans to be the first to cross the English channel in a battery-powered airplane, but was there behind-the-scene subterfuge?

Because he's quick like that. And lucky.

It looks like this whole battery-powered-vehicle business is going to continue extending to more and more types of transportation. The latest to fall to the liquid fuel-free fad is the multicopter, and its first airborne efforts have been caught on video.

In the end, the competition for the $1.35 million top prize in the 2011 Green Flight Challenge came down to just two craft, the eGenius and the Pipistrel G4. After both managed to meet the goal of the contest – fly 200 miles at over 100 miles per hour using less than the equivalent energy of one gallon of fuel per p

A team from the University of Stuttgart has flown into aviation history by averaging over 100 miles per hour for more than two hours, completing a 211-mile trip powered solely by electricity.

PC-Aero Elektra One – Click above to watch video after the jump

E-Flight Electric Waiex – Click above to watch video after the jump

Yuneec E430, Sonex Waiex, Antares 20E – Click above to watch video after the jump

Cessna has built over 43,000 of its 172 Skyhawks since introducing the airplane back in 1955 and, until now, all have burned aviation fuel (Avgas) to fly the friendly skies. That is set to change as the ol' air-dog will learn a new trick this year with its manufacturer announcing that it is teaming up with Bye Energy to produce an electric-powered proof of concept (POC) version of the venerable bird.

Solar Impulse HB-SIA – Click above to watch video after the jump

Yuneec E430 electric airplane - Click above for high-res image gallery

First things first: electric airplanes are nothing new. The French eplane "Electra" flew in 2007 and the "ElectraFlyer C" wowed the crowds at Oshkosh in 2008. But, these one-offs are not for sale and they're certainly not cheap to put together.

If you have a strong interest in electric vehicles taking flight (in both the metaphoric and non-metaphoric senses) than you may want to attend the upcoming Electric Aircraft Symposium on April 24th at the Domenick Yoney