Electric Helicopter Takes Flight in Germany

Germany's e-volo launched the maiden flight of its two-man electric multicopter, the VC200 Volocopter, last week. The original version of the craft weighed 80kg and could fly for 20 minutes. The two-seater version was developed as a hybrid vehicle with a range extending combustion motor.

The first test flights were made in the dm-arena in Karlsruhe using the VC200 prototype on Nov. 17, with the craft flying to the 22 m high ceiling of the arena and hovering for several minutes. According to the company, the helicopter generated even less noise than they originally anticipated. You can see some footage of the  maiden flight below.

E-volo says it was unable to simulate potential vibrations in the mechanical structure because of its complexity. As it turns out, vibration in this case was minimal.

"Such vibrations are a large problem for normal helicopters," said e-volo managing director Stephan Wolf. "There, the vibrations together with the deafening noise have lead to much discomfort on passenger flights in helicopters. The result of the first flight created a euphoria among the entire project team."

You can see our previous coverage of the Volocopter here.

Source: e-volo