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1- Isn't a HW startup really hard compared to software? Like the ideas are like yet-another-social-media-site or a SASS but in hw one needs to do the embedded programming, the mechanical design, the software, marketing and *then* the novel idea that sells. How do you do it?
2- How do you manage to find the expertise to build a viable product? How did you find investors?
3- Any tips/books you'd recommend for hardware/engineering related startups?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is an excellent question. For narrow body aircraft we've studied, they require high propulsive power during the takeoff and climb phases, and a fraction of the peak propulsive power during the cruise phase. One aircraft we looked at required 30-35MW during takeoff and ~10MW during cruise. So, thrust power and system level power density (kW/kg) are critical during takeoff/climb and cruise efficiency is important…
> One aircraft we looked at required 30-35MW during takeoff and ~10MW during cruise. Do you envision some airframes to include assisted take-off technology? (JATO and the like, even catapults)
When can we buy a motorcycle with this in it? I'm joking, but you know someone wants to kill themselves that way. On a more serious note, what other applications do you intend for these?
We have received significant interest for high performance ground and marine applications, which we plan to leverage in the short-term as a way of getting lots of in-situ run-time for our technology without the hurdles of certification. We will be pursuing the long road to certification in parallel.
When can we buy a motorcycle with this in it? I'm joking, but you know someone wants to kill themselves that way. On a more serious note, what other applications do you intend for these?
haha yeah, 100% I'm sure someone is already considering it... (looking at my co-founder eric, he loves motorcycles) We have received significant interest for high performance ground and marine applications, which we plan to leverage in the short-term as a way of getting lots of in-situ run-time for our technology without the hurdles of certification. We will be pursuing the long road to certification in parallel.
Marine is a big one though.. especially in Scandinavia. Lots of interest in electrifying boats and ships there.
Given that the batteries weigh a lot more than the motors, I would have thought that motor efficiency (which scales battery size) was much more important than motor weight. My back-of-the-envelope is: - Assuming 0.4 kWh/kg for batteries, and they have to run for 4 hours, then the total mass per kW is 10 kg (batteries) and 0.08 kg (motor). - A 1% increase in motor efficiency could eliminate 0.1 kg of batteries, which…
> Given that the batteries weigh a lot more than the motors, I would have thought that motor efficiency (which scales battery size) was much more important than motor weight. I guess that depends on what kind of airplane you are making. If you're just making the same kind of airplanes we've been making with ICE, but with electric motors and batteries instead, you're probably right. But if you're making an electric ai…
In characterizing the vehicle-level benefit of power density, it is definitely important to consider the X kg of structure required to support 1 kg of motor/inverter/gearbox/etc.
If you don't mind, I have a few questions about how you collect data and evaluate the performance of your motor quantitatively. Do you have any particular software stack for data collection? I see the motor communicates over CAN -- Is that just to send control signals, or do you also expose sensor readings like temperature, power input/output, etc? Lastly, did you need to write any custom software to collect/visualize motor performance and what does that look like?
The reason I ask is because I'm in the early stages of building a data collection & analysis platform for experimental hardware (https://www.telemetryjet.com/), targeted at small engineering teams or individuals. I don't want to focus too much on what I'm building (this is your thread!) so I'll just say in general I'm really interested in learning more about how small engineering teams like yours collect & utilize data in the engineering process.
Congrats again on the launch.
The 480nm number is really impressive at this size. Especially at 5000rpm with the 4-1. Compared to a ICE motor that weighs ~200kg, you effectively free-up 40kwh~80kwh (80 if you believe the 400w/hr claim that Tesla makes) of battery capacity right there. I think there's still a long way to go, but seeing things like this and planes like Pipestrel's electric planes, GA electric planes are more and more feasible.
This is really exciting, congrats on the launch! Exciting to see engineers coming from college engineering teams like FSAE -- I was a member of a solar boat racing team, which is a very similar problem space and also relies on "stacking efficiencies" in your drivetrain system. If you don't mind, I have a few questions about how you collect data and evaluate the performance of your motor quantitatively. Do you have an…