Taurus Electro – The Electric Airplane is here

Flying may soon become an everyday thing to do if the plans of CAFE Foundation take shape. CAFE is a nonprofit aiming to advance personal air travel, CAFE stands for Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency. The Electric Aircraft Symposium held in April in San Francisco was host to a crowd of several dozen engineers, venture capitalists, and members of clean-tech companies who plotted the potential of Electric flight. A Slovenian company called Pipistrel highlighted its newest model The Taurus Electro which can climb to 6,000 feet after taking off on a 30-kilowatt motor. Recharging the glider’s lithium-polymer battery is meant to take about as long as powering a cell phone. Depending upon the weather and skills of the pilot, the glider can travel 1,000 miles in a day. Pipistrel’s customers include Formula One driver Pedro de la Rosa. But even Google co-founder Larry Page, who attended the forum, might have to wait to purchase the electric Taurus if he were interested.

It is in the final stages of test flights and will be manufactured in a limited run this year, however in the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) would prevent people from flying the glider under the same rules as light sport aircraft.FAA rules could change, possibly within the next year, and hopefully we may see a glider showroom in our vicinity. The glider weighs a little more than 700 pounds and costs $133,000, Chump change? For the founder of Google but for us it could be way better than being stuck in traffic in a Ferrari. Seems the days of flying to work are nearing.

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