CleanTechnica Podcast: Electric Super Boats, Liquid Flow Batteries For Electric Aviation, & More

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Welcome to another edition of CleanTechnica’s e-mobility podcast, where we talk anything electric that crawls, swims, rides, walks, flies, and more.

No, Daimler Is Not Getting Into The Vaping Business …

Daimler made one heck of an e-Cigarette. While the title surely necessitated a double-check (after all, carmakers can surprise us regularly), this is not your normal type of e-cigarette. The wild electric Cigarette AMG Electric Drive racing boat is a cooperation between Cigarette and Mercedes-AMG. If you know what Cigarettes are, you’ll know we’re talking about the top crust of fast sea races with sometimes spectacular crashes. The Formula One of sea races now also has an electric counterpart.

The Cigarette AMG Electric Drive boasts:

• 6 electric motors 185 hp (138 kW) each
• Maximum torque: 184 ft-lb (250 Nm) each
• Combined maximum output: 2220 hp (1656 kW)
• Maximum torque: 2213 ft-lb (3000 Nm)
• Battery size: 60 kWh x 4 = 240 kWh (400 V batteries)
• Potential power: 3218 hp (2400 kW)
• Weight 4833 lb (2192 kg)

Have You Heard Of The New Bell eVTOL Air Taxi?

You should have if you’ve read, listened to, or watched CleanTechnica in the past year. We have covered Bell and Safran working on an electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) air taxi a few times.

This eVTOL is expected to fly in 2020 using a hybrid-electric propulsion system. It shares some similarities with older 1960 designs, such as the Bell XV-3.

The design rests on “a tiltrotor concept with three tilting ducted fans — a pair of single-rotor fore fans mounted on the wingtips and a coaxial-rotor aft fan mounted between rear supports that also carry the vertical tails,” as Aviation Weeks puts it.

The air taxi will use an auxiliary power unit (APU) 180 hp turbine generator producing at least 100 kVA for the 60 hp electric motors in each rotor.

Another Electric Helicopter-Like “Air Taxi”

On another closely related design, SkyRise uses the helicopter as a starting point and adapts it to our future electric mobility needs.

Specifically, SkyRise wants to offer a cost-effective, expedited, and safer way to air travel for everyone. It uses the company’s Advanced Pilot Assist for extra situational awareness and intelligence for safer air transportation.

https://youtu.be/QbUayaXngLM

NASA’s Nano-Electrofuel (NEF) Flow Batteries For Airplanes

I’m saving the best for last. Hauling liquid energy on airplanes is something aircraft makers know a thing or two about, but kerosene is one thing — using flow batteries for electricity in an airplane is something else and piqued my curiosity. NASA is working on the nano-electrofuel (NEF) flow batteries for electric aviation. NEF uses a nonexplosive liquid rechargeable battery with higher energy density than solid lithium-ion batteries.

If you know little about flow cell batteries, they are big and bulky chemical batteries that store energy. The benefits of using chemicals, like vanadium, is that you can fine-tweak voltage, amperage, and more. Flow cell batteries are heavy but becoming lighter with better energy density. This field is truly exciting, and some companies now offer completely closed-loop systems. Read more via AviationWeek.

And A Question To CleanTechnica Readers & Listeners

The green worlds of maritime and aviation mobility also mean talking about cleaner and more sustainable liquid energy than fossil fuels. The industry is making strides with cleaner and more renewable forms of fuels, such as biofuels for airplanes. I’ve considered talking about other energy systems beyond electric and wanted gauge interest. What do you think?