The first Pulitzer Electric Aircraft Race, a two to three day, 1,000-nm cross-country event beginning in Omaha, Nebraska, and ending near Kitty Hawk, N.C., will be held May 16-19, 2022.
The race is a resumption of the Pulitzer air races first held in the early 1920s. The winner will be awarded the Pulitzer Trophy, on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., according to officials with the National Aeronautic Association.
The race will be open to piloted aircraft of all types using zero-emission electric propulsion.
Because many of the competitors may be in a research and development phase and using experimental aircraft, the race will be a day only, Visual Flight Rules (VFR) event, according to NAA officials.
The race winner is the pilot with the fastest speed calculated from the cumulative flight time, not including time on the ground for maintenance, charging, or overnight stays. All the rules are available here.
The cross-country format was selected to emphasize electric aircraft range and reliability, in addition to speed, in a realistic operating environment, NAA officials explain.
“A cross-country race will require careful logistical planning from the race teams and highlight different electric propulsion technology choices and operational strategies such as rapid battery charging, whole battery changes, and solar power augmentation to extend range,” officials added.
Who cares what the carbon footprint is relative to blah blah blah. Did we argue about the ethics/impact of racing motorboats when the world was sailing and the first motorboats started to arrive? Hell no, we raced.
Object moves? Humans will race with it. Simple as that. Make class/course rules, go racing, enjoy.
Those who favor electric power for autos or planes never talk about the source of energy or environmental costs necessary to build, maintain, charge or dispose of the batteries.
In the early days (1890’s 1920’s) all forms of power and, later, propulsion were tried and competing for their advocates – steam, electric, external combustion, internal, etc. Long term storage and transportability of hydrocarbon – gas – fuel won the day. This reminds me of the Vin-Fiz days, a traveling team accompanying an electric air vehicle. While IC or CI engines will rule for a long time to come, a practical GA electric would change the dynamic of training costs (Bye Aerospace, Pipistrel) and might make fun-flying at a day trip distance more accommodating.
Wishing the organizers and entrants best of luck.
This is just another gimmick to force you out of any combustion engine operated mode of transportation. Soon to be a mandate. Anytime you hear the word mandate think China, Russia, North Korea. That’s how their powerful government works, they give you no choice.
This is used to put any mode of combustion engines out of service, oh not Zar Kerry. Remember, any time you hear the word “mandate “, you are being controlled by someone influenced by the government. Kinda like China, Russia, North Korea and Iran.
This actually sounds kind of interesting to me. But, I’m curious on a few points. For instance: Do the support vehicles that will need to (also) race from checkpoint to checkpoint in order to support maintenance and charging ALSO have to be “zero emissions”? And, what about the environmental impact of producing both the hardware (batteries in particular) and the electricity consumed? Shouldn’t those also be considered for purposes of measuring “green-ness”?
For that matter, shouldn’t all aspects also be considered within a context that is baselined with respect to comparable, current-production internal combustion-powered aircraft, particularly if we consider the recent expansion of unleaded aviation fuel options? I mean, shouldn’t we consider all this in the full, relevant context to ensure we are genuinely getting the most environmentally-friendly option and not just assuming that full-electric = “better” without actually verifying it?
Also, is their a limit on the total elapsed time that is permitted to finish the “race”? I mean, if one team (rather miraculously, I’d wager at this point) finishes the whole thing in three days, but then another team finishes “faster” but takes a week or more, who wins?
I think that is an excellent Ideal. The Solar Impulse around the world publicity stunt, never mentioned how much Air and Ground cargo was shipped around the world and how much fuel was used to do that. And fails to account for the air-conditioned and lighted tents used to house the thing while it sat on the ground waiting for weather. In terms of efficiency Burt Rutan’s gas powered Voyager could circle the globe many times on a tremendously smaller carbon foot print.