It was one of the big news at the commercial fair of the last Coupe Icare, held in St Hilaire du Touvet (France) in late September: a paramotor powered by 4 electric engines and 4 propellers that work coordinately to offer zero torque effect, low noise, high reliability, low consumption, and thrust up to 90kg with 35 HP of power (27 kw) -equivalent to a 250cc 2-stroke engine. The Revolt comes from Italy and it is in development phase -in collaboration with paramotor manufacturer Yooda-, with a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to help start production in 2017.
We talked with Glauco Tortoreto, the inventor of the Revolt, just back from the big event of the paragliding world, where the Revolt found a number of new sponsors -although it is still far from the goal of 95,000 euros for October 20th.
“If the Kickstarter campaign fails we will continue the project because we have a lot of more ideas, this is only the first “draft””, says Tortoreto. “Maybe it will take more time but for sure in the next year (2017) we will have the final product ready for delivery”, he adds confidently.
The Revolt unit relies on its 4 rotors with 4 circuits totally separated “to guarantee security”. According to Tortoreto, the software of the Revolt can manage a motor failure or a broken propeller, and adjust the speeds of the remaining motors accordingly to maintain level flight with zero torque effect. “You can still fly even with only 2 motors, for example if you’re over the water doing stupid things and break the 2 lower propellers, you’re in an emergency situation but you can fly away from the danger. It depends on the wing load but you are still able to fly with only one motor because the thrust of each motor is 22kg”, explains the inventor.
Other advantages of the Revolt include the zero torque effect thanks to propellers spinning in opposite directions, which also helps for “smooth and precise flight”; more reliability and less maintenance due to fewer moving parts compared to a thermic engine, and instant flying as there is no need to warm up the engines before take-off, just plug and play. The unit comes with Wi-Fi (or Bluetooth) connection for the I-Phone or Android App to completely check the system and fine tuning, on board computer.
Tortoreto also claims lower cost per flight as one of its benefits: “With the biggest battery pack that cost 880€ and gives you at least 200 cycles, flying for 40 minutes each flight means 130 hours in total, so you spend around 7€ per hour if you add the cost of 0,20€ of electricity for each recharge. If you make a quick calculation about petrol, oil, maintenance… it’s more expensive”, he says.
The price of the Revolt unit in the pre-sale on Kickstarter is 4980 euros, including frame, engines, harness, battery container and charger, but without batteries. These can be purchased at prices that range from 650 euros for a 32 aH pack that will give you 20 minutes of airtime after each charge, to 880 euros for the 64 aH pack that will grant you 40 minutes in the air each time. The weight of the unit will depend on the chosen battery pack: from 23.8 kg to 31.6 kg. There is also the option to buy a drive kit to install on your own paramotor frame.
If you want one or want to sponsor this project with any amount of money, go to the Kickstarter campaign, where you’ll find all the specs, on: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1897260901/revolt-your-revolutionary-and-affordable-aircraft?ref=project_link
*Follow Revolt on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flyrevolt/
