Converting an airplane (cessna 150) into battery powered.?

Question

My boss wants me to find out (not work related) if there are any Government grants out there that will find a project that converts a regular fuel powered Cessna 150 to bettery power. Do you know of any....please HELP!

Answer 1

It is funny how you ask a question, and then knock the answers...and give them all thumbs down (like you will do to mine)

Here is your answer.  Go to google.com, do a search on government grants, and give them a call.  The government will be able to shoot your bosses idea down much better than any of us can.  If a  retired airline captain is telling you it can't be done; it can't be done.  

Even if your bosses theory is plausible, it is not practical.  You would have to highly modify the aircraft with an extended wing to generate enough lift to accommodate the added weight of the batteries (an empty 150 weighs 1,100 lbs: 900lbs less than a Honda Insight) You would also have to figure out how to keep those batteries charged enough to produce 100hp almost continously...good luck to you guys

Answer 2

Do you have any idea what size battery you would need to keep a propeller turning fast enough to keep you in the air?

Even hybrid cars run generators to help keep the battery up.

Answer 3

What your boss suggests cannot be done.  The Cessna 150 is not adaptable to electric power; in fact it has been done only with super-lightweight airplanes that are not really practical for transportation.

The electrical components are simply too heavy to be used in an airplane that weighs only 1,600 pounds.  The batteries for an electric car alone weigh more than 5,000 pounds.

Sorry.

Answer 4

Don't think its real practical at this point but, try this link for some ideas of where you might start:

http://www.kitplanes.com/magazine/engine...

Answer 5

This is not even a practical project. The weight of the batteries alone would negate any improvement let alone the system that would be required to attempt propelling the plane. ADDED....I guess you are convinced the government will fund any project, even if it has no chance of being something that would actually work. Maybe you should contact one of the three people you spoke of. They would probably give you the answer you seek.

Answer 6

Your boss should conduct a feasibility study first on whether that is even feasible. Or just use his brain a bit. Nobody is going to pay a grant on something that's simply impossible because the tech isn't there. Care to guess if there are any grants out there to build a matter / anti-matter reactor? Obviously NOT, since we're not at the stage where we can even store anti-matter effectively!

We've gotten to a stage where it's possible to build a CAR that looks decent and runs good (The Tesla, of course). However, we're NOT at the stage where we have enough storage capacity / to weight ratio to power a plane.

Unless your boss is into battery tech / energy storage tech research instead... There's almost always some grants for that.

Answer 7

Here is an article of an electric powered proof of concept aircraft.  Sonex showed up at the 2007 EAA Airventure with their electric test bed aircraft.

The last URL below includes a nice video of the president of Sonex talking about his electric powered aircraft.  There are some really smart people in the Expermintal Aircraft world.

Answer 8

Dream on,Alice

Answer 9

This is impractical - due to weight.

However -

A hydrogen powered airship would be very practical.

Using Helium as the main bouyancy, and an aerodynamic design, could incorporate hydrogen stored in metal-halide tanks to provide forward motion - and enough lift to propell the plane forward.

The plane would be biased to return downwards, but most of the weight would be bourne by the helium.

Answer 10

You could try the NASA SBIR (Small Business Innovations Research) website, if you are a small business.  Right now I think there is more interest in using fuel cells than batteries.

Answer 11

Buy a RC plane and slam it on his desk.

It's not possible as others have said the weight alone ill cause it to fall out of the sky