Face it, we’ve all delved deep into our minds this year to think of SOME imaginative ways we could temporarily escape 2020, even just for a brief moment. Well, Austrian pilot Peter Salzmann may have just found you your answer. BMW have created the first electric wingsuit which can reach speeds of 186mph. Ideal for flying away from your problems.
Salzmann has reached heights that no human ever has before. After 3 years of intensive research and countless tests, in partnership with BMWi, his dream of creating his first electric wingsuit has, at last, come true.
The wingsuit has been developed for the BMW project “The Electrified Wingsuit” and to promote the new BMW ix3 electrical vehicle, alongside BMWi and Designworks, BMW’s in-house agency. The project, however, was not without its setbacks.
The wingsuit is powered by renewable energy, compact enough to work with a regular wingsuit, and with limited heat generation. When speaking about the project, Salzmann said: “The development process was a constant up and down, we were always facing new challenges.” The team also had to abandon the idea to a larger version of the impeller, and its extra 40% output that it offered. “The very first time I tried the suit on, it was clear to me that the whole thing would be too heavy and that I would only have limited movement.”
But, as with all great inventions, ideas became sketches, sketches then became digital models and digital models became prototypes. The first prototype was made out of cardboard, and then aluminium, to simulate the weight without any impellers or electrics.
Salzmann’s prototype was tested out in a wind tunnel in Stockholm, Sweden, which he described as a milestone for him. More than 30 test jumps with the fly unit were then carried out.
The finished product can propel a brave individual nearly 200 miles an hour, but the thrill won’t last for long. You can’t hop on and off as it only lasts approximately five minutes. For safety, there is an allocated on/off switch to set the suit going, a two-finger throttle device, a minimal steering component, and an instant cut off for emergency situations.
Following a series of successful wind tunnel tests at BMW’s facilities, the wind tunnel in Stockholm, and finally a few dozen test jumps, the team decided a full public demonstration was in order using the skyscrapers of Busan, Korea. The ongoing pandemic ended those dreams, so they pivoted to the Austrian Alps, specifically the ominous Del Brüder peaks in the Hohe Tauern mountain range.
In its final and most impressive run, Salzmann and two friends (who of course got delegated just regular wingsuits…) took the plunge from 10,000 feet, with Salzmann surged forward in his electric wingsuit.
Wasn’t sure what you wanted for Christmas? Well, I’m sure you do now…
Keen to see what else BMW has been up to lately, then check out this.
