Originally Posted by
tdracer
Any sort of hybrid system is of minimal benefit on an aircraft and probably not worth the weight. The big advantage of hybrid for cars (and trucks) is regenerative braking - eliminating much of the penalty in stop/go driving. Any use of the friction brakes is lost efficiency that you can't get back.
Aircraft use a lot of energy climbing to cruise altitude, but they get most of that back when they throttle back for descent. .... The only time regenerative braking could be used is during landing, and the potential energy recover is too small to compensate for the weight of the needed hardware on any but the shortest range flights.
About 10 years ago, the German LSA manufacturer presented a hybrid Rotax 912 + electric motor/generator combination. The latter would generate an additional 40 hp for take-and climb, and function as a generator during descents. I believe it was also flown, but don't know why the project was apparently discontinued. Now, when you think how far battery technology has come in the last ten years?
https://www.google.de/url?sa=t&rct=j...IQC80m9FDoBeqY