Electricity-powered Long-ESA piloted by Chip Yates touches 200mph, setting world record

And if you’ve been under the impression that solar powered vehicles are more often than not beaten to the finish line by Fred Flintstone, test pilot Chip Yates has just proved you wrong! Hailed as the first person in the world to ever fly an aircraft faster than 200 miles per hour during a test flight at the Inyokern Airport in California’s Mojave Desert, Yates now has an electric-vehicle record to his name! The plane used for this particular flight is christened the Long-ESA (Electric Speed and Altitude) and is in essence a modified Long-EZ aircraft sporting a 258 horsepower electric motor developed by the electric aerospace company Flight of the Century (FOTC). Also, Yates’ recent flight lasted just 16 minutes though with better battery capacity in future, the guys running it all expect to touch speeds of 250mph and are also preparing for a flight across the Atlantic!

[Phys]