In recent years electric cars have come to the forefront of technological advancement with companies such as Tesla and BMW moving into the electric vehicle market. The development of the electric car has also played a major role in the evolution of motorsport with the rise of sports competitions such as Formula E.
In 2020 Air Race E will kick off the first racing championship of electric airplanes, which they hope will pave the way for future development in environmentally safe aviation through the venture. The company behind this innovative idea is the creators of Air Race 1, which is referred to as the Formula 1 of the air. The CEO of Air Race E is the American born Jeff Zaltman, Jeff who often works in Barcelona is also a member of the Sabadell aerodrome recently presented at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) based in Terrassa.
For now, the main problem for electric aviation is the weight of the batteries, and while this is less important in cars and trains, it is crucial in Air Racing due to the power output and speed the planes will be travelling at.
Air Race E plane’s will have an approximate weight of 250 pounds and will be able to fly about 400 kilometres per hour. To develop this technology, the organization wants to have universities such as the UPC play a part in the development and design of the aircraft, UPC four years ago became a pioneer in this field due to the university introducing a subject based on electric aviation.
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