Electric aircraft generates buzz at Oshkosh air show

Chicago Tribute (Hilkevitch) - Boeing working on hybrid plane to cut fuel use, noise, emissions.

Chicago-based Boeing is working on a concept plane called the SUGAR Volt that would use turbine engines and electric motors connected to the fans to more efficiently propel the electric airliner. On flights of up to 900 miles, the SUGAR Volt would cruise almost exclusively on battery power, said Marty Bradley, a technical fellow at Boeing's research and technology division in Huntington Beach, Calif. An electric propulsion system would help slash the amount of fuel burned as well as noise around airports by about 70 percent compared with today's airliner fleet, say aerospace researchers who believe they can have such a flying machine up and running by about 2035.

On a smaller scale, a competition is under way to develop by next year a personal commuter aircraft that operates on electricity or fuel cells and can average at least 100 mph on a 200-mile flight while achieving greater than 200 passenger mpg. The Green Flight Challenge, sponsored by NASA and the CAFE Foundation, offers a $1.5 million first prize for the aircraft with the best performance. Some of the competing teams presented their designs at the Oshkosh air show. The participants included aerospace engineers and students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Georgia Tech University, Penn State University and the University of Colorado. "The concept is winnable. The engineering still needs to get done,'' said Jack Langelaan, an assistant professor at Penn State.