A French pilot flew a plane powered only by electricity at more than 175 miles per hour, the fastest an all-electric plane has ever gone. That's much, much faster than other all-electric planes, which tend to be the type available at toy stores, and about 15 mph faster than the previous record set by the pilot, Hugues Duval.
The all-electric plane he used to set the record isn't that much bigger than a toy plane: at 200 pounds, it weighs less than some human beings. Its flights also last for about the same duration as those of some of the nicer toy planes available: at 65 miles per hour, the plane's two batteries can last for about 35 minutes. At 175 miles per hour, they last just long enough to get up in the air, set a record and get the plane back down to the ground.
The plane's name is the Cristaline, but the French news media apparently calls it "le Cri-Cri". OK, so it's basically a toy plane … that can carry a human being.
