An all-electric aircraft testbed is proposed to provide a dedicated development environment for the rigorous study and advancement of electrically powered aircraft. The new testbed aircraft will be developed from an existing conventional airframe and provide a dedicated platform to study, design, and test electrically powered propulsion systems for use in commercial, military, and general aviation vehicles. The testbed aircraft will allow various electrical propulsion system technologies to be tested to determine performance, reliability, safety, and cost. These include various battery, fuel cell, super capacitor, and motor technologies. Additionally, the new aircraft could be used to study energy-harvesting solutions including photovoltaics, vortex energy extraction, and piezoelectrics. An electric aircraft has several significant advantages over a conventional internal combustion driven aircraft. These include zero, or near zero emissions, increased reliability and safety with only one moving part, reduced noise and vibration, increased comfort, and reduced maintenance. RHRC and the University of Illinois propose to develop an all-electric testbed aircraft able to systematically evaluate new and existing technologies, which will make these systems, safe, reliable, and cost effective.
