Want to extend the range of your electric airplane? The RExLite can help you answer that question, although it seems like a silly solution.
Designed by brainiac Richard Glassock of Nottingham University, the RExLite was unveiled last week at the International Conference on Innovation in European Aeronautics Research. It’s a hydrogen-fuelled motorcycle that can be integrated into an electric airplane to extend the range of the aircraft, effectively turning the plane into a hybrid (see the artist’s rendering above for an idea of what that might look like; there’s a drawing of the bike itself below).
The idea, wacky as it sounds, is that this would allow environmentally-friendly pilots to hop on their two-wheeler, ride to their plane (located in a space-confined urban airport), attach the bike to the aircraft and add a few extra hours of flight time once the plane’s battery packs are depleted. The whole RExMoto assemble is supposed to weigh under 125 kg.
You can find out more about the RExMoto at the Nottingham Post.
GALLERY
Check out all the pics that go with this story!
