Diamond announces an electric DA40

Any DA40 related topics

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Diamond_Dan
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Re: Diamond announces an electric DA40

Post by Diamond_Dan »

haykinson wrote: Fri Oct 15, 2021 9:56 pm We already have a lot of FBOs that grew out of flight schools, so it's not unreasonable to imagine that some of the folks who buy the electric Diamonds will eventually want to provide charging services to anyone else flying in with a compatible system.
I have a 220V outlet in my hangar. If an electric airplane makes sense someday due to technology and/or my mission, I would never need to buy gas or electricity from my local FBO"
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Re: Diamond announces an electric DA40

Post by Boatguy »

In 2020, 54% of car purchases in Norway were either electric or hybrid. In September of 2021 it was 90%.

The population centers of Norway are well north of the population centers of Canada!
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Rich
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Re: Diamond announces an electric DA40

Post by Rich »

Boatguy wrote: Fri Oct 15, 2021 10:54 pm In 2020, 54% of car purchases in Norway were either electric or hybrid. In September of 2021 it was 90%.

The population centers of Norway are well north of the population centers of Canada!
And right along the moderating influences of the Ocean. The interior of Canada is routinely far colder than Oslo and, of course the East and West coasts of Canada. The all time low for Jackson WY is below -60 degreesF and routinely has overnight wintertime lows in the minus 20 degF.

In the winter it is common for my Prius engine to run ONLY to provide heat for the interior. In the early days of EV's owners were surprised to discover substantially reduced range in the winter.
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Re: Diamond announces an electric DA40

Post by CFIDave »

If you're buying an electric car and expecting to use it for lots of long-distance travel, IMHO you're buying the wrong car for your "mission."

And I say this as an owner of 2 Teslas, the first of which I bought around 7 years ago. If you have the ability to charge overnight at your home, and 99% of your driving is "local" (e.g., within a metropolitan area.), an electric car is perfect. By plugging in every night, you leave your home every morning with a "full tank of gas" and never think about range or finding/needing a charging station. For inter-city or long-distance travel I have an airplane.

Diamond's eDA40 is not for inter-city or long-distance travel either; it's intended for only a very specific customer and use: for flight schools with primary students who need to make lots of trips around the local traffic pattern (circuits) while learning to fly -- at 40% less cost. So all electric charging can be performed at the local airport.

By basing the eDA40 on the DA40NG with the same max gross weight, horsepower, and handling, Diamond with the eDA40 presumably offers a very easy student transition to the flight school's other (Austro or Lycoming) DA40s. Once student pilots have perfected their landings, they'll transition to these other aircraft.
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pietromarx
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Re: Diamond announces an electric DA40

Post by pietromarx »

Rich wrote: Fri Oct 15, 2021 10:05 pm Generally this is a violent agreement we're having and it requires a number of things to come together. The reason I say I don't expect it my lifetime is simple: I turned 75 yesterday :shock:
First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Secondly, I love your posts and, while I sometimes disagree (never personally!), I appreciate very much you and your point of view. This community (and me) really benefits with your participation -- and a lot of other very considered and thoughtful folks -- and I wanted to say this to you and the community.

I do think we're in agreement. I'm a classic "California utopian optimist" (especially after the Dodgers yesterday) and have worked in transportation, tech, renewables, etc. for a long time. My optimism is not realism because people don't adapt and change as quickly as the technologies do.

Therein lies the rub: we will get very good electric airplanes pretty soon, but the adoption rate will be slow because people, institutions, and organizations just don't adapt that quickly. The FAA is already afraid of electric airplanes after what happened with the B787 fires and the Chevy Bolt issue won't help. I worked with batteries extensively when I was handling R&D in the mobile smartphone world and, well, they're very dense energy wanting to get out!

I'm impressed with Diamond's approach on this, but I do think it will be awhile (too long) before it really gets out there.

These forums aren't very "mushy", but I hope that the above clarifies where I was coming from with my "FUD" comment. Apologies if I offended. Didn't mean to.

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Re: Diamond announces an electric DA40

Post by Lou »

I don’t disagree with much of the factual observation here. As for what the future will bring, I am a strict Berrist (as in Yogi). A deep review of primary energy consumption in the US as reported by the EIA shows the goal of a partially electrified passenger vehicle fleet is one thing, the displacement of fossil fuels is an entirely different thing and a very, very long way off. Since we are in the mode of predictions, I will predict that vehicle electrification goals will meet hard resource constraints within a very short period of time (less than 10 years if not sooner). It’s not so much a technological challenge as it is a resources challenge. With aircraft it will be very limited because of the power/weight/endurance envelope.

FUD is usually used to describe a propaganda tactic. For me it is an inflammatory rhetorical accusation. That’s why I responded, but it is so hard to read tone over the web. Best to all.
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