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E2GLIDE
The new competition format:
More usable weather conditions. Fewer outlandings. Spectacular races.
- Races up to 2 hours
- 2 kWh energy quota
- Speeds up to 200 km/h
Normal gliding competitions:
E2GLIDE:
New technology requires new ways of thinking. Electric drives in gliding multiply possible competitive variants. The aim of the E2GLIDE format is to take up the experience gained from the 1st eglide contest 2019 in Pavullo / Italy in a structured manner and to combine it with other ideas. The use of defined engine contingents during the competition flight enables increasing independence from the weather and high-profile racing events.
After a first successful competition in the mountains of the northern Apennines, the second edition of the event above the World Heritage ERZGEBIRGE follows. At the beginning of September, up to 20 participants will duel in exciting air races from the Grossrückerswalde airfield for the most efficient choice of flight path, including some VIPs from the gliding scene.
In contrast to ordinary gliding competitions, a defined energy quota can be used after the regatta start in order to avoid outlandings or to increase the average speed with the help of an electric motor. Whoever flies over the finish line first wins the day. Exceeded energy quota is subject to a time penalty.
The dream of zero-emission flying.
The unpowered glider is heavily dependent on local weather conditions. Equipping ordinary motor planes with a battery-powered electric engine is still reaching the limits of what is technically feasible. The hybridization of aerodynamically favorable gliders with electric motors offers propulsion systems that are ready for series production, which are emission-free and, in addition, much more weather-independent than typical gliders. When it comes to getting technology from the laboratory into the air, gliding takes on its pioneering role once again in aviation.
Gliding: pioneer in aviation
In commercial aviation, fiber-reinforced materials have only recently been used in aircraft such as the Airbus A350 or the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The manufacture of gliders has been made entirely of glass or carbon fiber since the late 1980s.
"All flying is based on the generation of air resistance, all flight work consists in overcoming air resistance." - Otto Lilienthal
No other aircraft generates as little drag as a glider. Aerodynamic advantages through the use of laminar profiles or winglets were discovered and confirmed by gliding at the end of the last century. While winglets have been standard in gliding for decades, they have only recently been used in commercial aviation for new developments.
There are already over 200 electric gliders that prove their suitability for everyday use and reliability.
Battery-powered motorized aircraft are currently more of a test vehicle and are mainly available in small numbers for research purposes.
We are world heritage!
Christmas country, winter sports region, world heritage - the Erzgebirge has many beautiful names. The special mixture of innovation and tradition as well as natural landscapes and localities is the framework to develop and live to your heart's content. The people from the Erzgebirge are known for their warmth and inventiveness, designing the region with love and carrying it with all its facets in the heart.
The Erzgebirge inherits its name from the rich silver resources, and owes its economic development to the mining tradition. It's not for nothing that they say here: everything comes from the mine. The Montanregion Erzgebirge / Krušnohoří has rightly and proudly been a part of the UNESCO World Heritage since July 2019. And despite state-of-the-art industry, the region still manages to stay natural today. Centuries ago the region was a single untouched woodland. Today, most of the region belongs to the Erzgebirge / Vogtland Nature Park, where you can still discover rare animal and plant species. More Informations about the region you can find under: Erzgebirge-gedacht.gemacht.
The event E2GLIDE strikes precisely this line between modernity and absolute untouchedness: the latest developments in the aviation industry meet the fact of absolutely emission-free transportation. Only with the help of the sun-warmed air masses can the gliders climb like eagles and cover several 100 kilometers at high speed in the subsequent gliding flight. Bad weather windows can be bridged by using modern electric drives. The amount of energy required to bake a cake is sufficient to electrically drive a glider without thermals 50 km in half an hour and to avoid an outlanding. And so the Erzgebirge repeatedly provides the basis for technical progress in conjunction with the impressive nature.