Beta Barnstorm: How'd they do it?
Charging Truck analysis
Beta recently mentioned on their Barnstorm story that a charging truck was involved. This makes total sense - not sure how often they could count on airside 240V AC plugs (if they were bringing a portal L2 charger), and that wouldn’t have been all that fast.
I also know that Remy Oktay got folks with F-150 Lightning trucks to meet him at airfields in order to do his record breaking (at the time) trip. Ford’s EV pickup has not only 120V outlets that can run off the battery pack, but even 240V outlets - which means you can charge the aircraft pretty quickly.
The Pipistrel SkyCharge M10 is rated for up to 10kW, that’d be a little over 40 amps at 240V. The F-150’s 240 volt outlet pushes 30 amps, so our max charging rate will be 7.2 kw, well within what both the SkyCharge and the Alpha can handle.
If Remy left 25% in the battery (safety margin), that’s 16.5 kWh per charging session; at 7.2 kW that’d be 2 hours 20 minutes using the SkyCharge M10 plugged in to the F-150’s 240V socket. Cool!
Would this have been a viable option for Alia?
Beta Alia CX300 uses CCS1 - which means they don’t need to use the special SkyCharge M10, any L2 charger with a J1772 plug should do, though Beta may specify which ones to use or not use.
So what might they have been doing?
Electric pickup truck (the Remy Oktay move). No generator needed, and can put out 7 kW.
A pickup truck and a generator. Home Depot’s website makes it look like you can get up to 7 kW that way- but its a lot of weight to haul around just to get 7 kw, which you could get from a 240V AC plug.
Charging at 7.2 kW, 5.8 hours to go from 30% to 100%
Portable chargers. This is what roadside assistance folks can use to charge a car stuck on the side of the road, for example the SparkCharge Roadie. This can push 20kW, without the need for a generator or even an AC plug, as they units themselves are batteries.
Charging at 20 kW, 2.1 hours to go from 30% to 100%
The Beta MiniCube or MiniCube+. This would push 40-65 kW, but would require three phase power.
Three phase power is common in EU (it’s how Aachen Merzbruck charged the Velis Electro I flew in), but I know that Waterloo Wellington Flight Center here near me had trouble getting three phase for their SkyCharge M20; which makes me suspect this wouldn’t have been universal enough at all the small airports they‘d be landing at. (USA and Canada have very similar power grids and standards)
Charging at 40 kW, 1.1 hours from 30% to 100%
Something fancier; such as a Mullens Powerup? Now we’re in the 20kw-160kw range finally, though the Alia can still outrun even the 160kw.
Charging at 160 kW, 16 minutes from 30% to 100%
If it were me, I’d be pretty tempted to go the F150 Lightning route. The Lightning battery options are 98 kWh and 130 kWh respectively, so even fully charging Beta’s 60kWh battery should be no problem. Possibly the F150 would have to top up at a nearby Electrify America in some cases before charging the Alia. If more speed were needed, the Roadie would be my next bet.