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The Killacycle uses lithium phosphate batteries
manufactured by the A123 company. Look up A123 on Wikipedia for
details. The A123 cells are the ones used by Dewalt in their high end
lithium power tools.
The A123 cells have been used quite a bit by the RC
crowd as an alternative to lithium polymers which have been pretty popular in RC
for a few years. In fact lithium polymer has really made electric powered RC
flight possible/practical. Compared to lithium polymer the A123 cells have a
lower power density, are heavier, and are far less volatile to use than lithium
polymer. They are also cheaper due to their high volume use by Dewalt compared
to the relatively low volume RC market for li-poly. As far as I know there is
still no way for an end user to buy A123s as raw cells. The guys using them in
RC buy Dewalt battery packs and hack them. For guys looking for a cheaper
electric alternative to li-poly who dont need max performance the A123 cells are
a good choice.
Li-poly is still the only battery technology that I
know of that has the potential to actually power a man carrying aircraft. In
fact they are currently being used in several European self launch sailplane
designs. There is also a guy here in the US marketing a Ultralight trike that is
electric powered and he has an electric self launch sailplane almost ready to
fly.
Still electric power is a niche that isnt yet
practical for most pilots. Li-polys are expensive, still considerably heavier
than gasoline with less energy density, and are potentially very hazardous if
mishandled or damaged.
Mike Wills
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, April 27, 2008 7:23
AM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Bill Dube and
Killacycle?
I saw the battery powered Killacycle drag
racing on TV last night against a gasoline powered drag cycle in the quarter
mile. They both hit 160 mph with the gasoline cycle bearly beating the
Killacycle by a small margin. Speaking of which has anyone heard
anything recently from Bill Dube and his very interesting work on that
new type of battery??
Here is a video link to one of the killacycle's
burnout and drag races for those of you not familiar with the work Bill has
done.
Bill Dube are you still one the
list???
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