Solar airplane takes flight, but faces same problem as electric cars like Nissan LEAF

The Solar Impulse, a prototype solar airplane, just made its first truly successful flight by lifting off and staying in the air for 87 minutes. Bertrand Piccard, founder of the organization that’s building the Solar Impulse said it took seven years to create the solar airplane and cited challenges such as weight distribution, steering capacity, and power management.

Sound familiar? Electric cars have some of the same challenges, most of which center around the batteries they carry. As an example, the Nissan LEAF has a range of 100 miles and utilizes lithium-ion batteries. The Solar Impulse may not have an explicit range limit because it theoretically can continue to pull energy from the sun but its onboard batteries have to store enough power to continue in overcast situations and at night.

The stakes are a little higher though considering the altitude differences between a person driving a Nissan LEAF and a pilot in the Solar Impulse. In this test flight, the Solar Impulse cruised at about 30 mph but future models utilizing two 10-horsepower electric motors will push that speed up to 45 mph.

The test flight was a precursor to Piccard’s upcoming goal to circumnavigate the globe in a solar airplane.

“This first mission was the most risky phase of the entire project. Eighty-seven minutes of intense emotion after seven years of research, testing and perseverance. Never has an airplane as large and light ever flown before!” According to Wired.

For a product to make any sort of impact on commercial airlines it would have to support significantly more weight, fly much faster, and have reliable backup systems for power. Even so, this is an encouraging breakthrough and possibly has implications for personal flight and an overall ambitious approach to managing energy efficiently.

According to the Solar Impulse web site, they’re working with the same amount of power the Wright brothers used in 1903 with their first powered flight.