While we wait (with increasing patience or impatience depending on our personalities) for the next round of battery developments to make pure electric airplanes a reality, hybrid possibilities abound.\u00a0 The definition of \u201chybrid\u201d might not be as coherent as those used for automobiles.\u00a0 Some \u201chybrids in this entry allow extended letdowns following a primary engine failure.\u00a0 In that case, the added electric motor\/generator gives extra minutes to find a safe landing space.\u00a0 While both motor and primary engine are operational, the system acts much like an automotive hybrid system, both motor and engine combining outputs for added power, or the electrical portion recharging batteries while the engine maintains cruise power.<\/p>\n
Some are more like automotive serial systems, an engine-driven generator charging batteries which power the propulsion motor.\u00a0 Pipistrel, though the Hypstair project, has a 200-kilowatt (268-horsepower) unit ready for test flights in 2017, according to Tine Tomazic, Director of Research and Development.<\/p>\n
Several years ago, Flight Design in Germany attached a generator\/motor setup to a Rotax engine.\u00a0 The electrical add-on would assist in takeoffs, charge batteries while in flight, and take over as a primary power source if the gasoline engine failed.\u00a0 This same hybrid approach applies to similar current systems.<\/p>\n