Electric aircraft aren't far off, but we need to prepare

I do think the article's predictions are not all that accurate however I can see a day when their guesstimated time frame will come true.

One of the biggest expenses for general aviation after insurance, inspections, hanger, an maintenance, is the cost of fuel which can run between $5 and $6 a gallon depending on where you are in the states. A 60 gallon top off can lighten your wallet quickly. A group of us used to fly to different places to eat our $150 hamburger which is about what it cost if everything was factored in..

Electric aircraft technology is rapidly developing locally and overseas, with the aim of potentially reducing emissions and operating costs by over 75 per cent. Other countries are already planning for 100 per cent electric short-haul plane fleets within a couple of decades.

The key issue affecting the uptake of electric aircraft is the need to ensure enough battery energy density to support commercial flights. While some major impediments are still to be overcome, we are likely to see short-haul electric flights locally before 2030. Small, two-to-four-seat, electric planes are already flying in Australia today.

www.abc.net.au...

a reply to: 727Sky

How should we prepare for electric aircraft?

a reply to: Phage

Extra batteries and really long extension cords. Duh.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: 727Sky

How should we prepare for electric aircraft?

We'll have floating charging stations, we'll have to float around it for a bit with some still unspecified technology until the plane has enough power to keep going

And we'll see some power bar display overlay on our screens so we can be sure the plane is powering up from yellow to green in a safety manner, unless it goes from yellow to red and then the masks drop down and we fall down to certain death like a very dumb and full of screams brick

Also we'll have some fine drinks while we wait for the bar to get green again. I mean it's not cool to way half+ an hour for the bar to turn green, just ask anyone who had to charge their phone while on bed and was turned comfortably to the opposite side of where the AC power plug is when the recharge was really needed

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: 727Sky

How should we prepare for electric aircraft?

Static lines?

How many D batteries should we have in the glovebox?

a reply to: 727Sky

I believe for long duration flight's nothing of this type is even remotely close to perfection, short haul perhaps but intermediate and long haul, freight and passenger will most likely be made using alternative fuel sources rather than electrical motor's as speed equals time which of course equal's money when you are dealing with getting from A to B as a business.

Also Electrical aircraft have the downside that they are slow due to the fact as yet there is no high speed electrical jet equivalent motor (they will likely be limited to prop's) that could be run from battery power though there is this, it has probably come on a long way since this as this is an old video and I believe this at least has the potential when they finally do perfect a suitable power source to replace jet engines - bit like those gulf breeze lamp shade thingy's ain't it.

But as I point out with current and even distant battery technology's you would not get very far trying to power Laser atmospheric gas heating/explosion propulsion system's like this - yet.

Rather thing's like this will take precedent in the immediate medium to long term and perhaps even beyond.
www.aerospace-technology.com...

The other downside with Electrical powered vehicles is it is really just passing the buck as far as emissions are concerned as unless the source of the power they are using to charge there battery's is also produced in a clean and emission free manner then they are still polluting vehicles - never mind the potential for yet more electrical devices with motors to produce yet more low level Ozone - which is great in the upper atmosphere but actually harmful in the lower atmosphere.

And don't be expecting the military to give up there very high speed and useful gas guzzling engine's for a very long time indeed.

Still I wish your optimism was accurate and who know's maybe it is and I am wrong I believe it was Norway whom are already trialing short haul electric air craft for domestic use though as yet there early model was only about the size of a Cessna with most of it's innards gutted and less room for freight and passengers as it was only about trialing the technology.

a reply to: Phage

Most flying cars are practically airplanes and most of them use batteries too. When it comes to comercial airliners those I think will not fly anytime soon?

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: 727Sky

How should we prepare for electric aircraft?

You cant prepare for this. The impact on the military industry and recreational flight will be changed forever.

Solar powered and wind powered airplanes that never need to come down to refuel except in less than ideal conditions and for maintenance, also to reduce wear because these do go bad eventually.

a reply to: Phage
If you're rich you could buy lots of properties around airports and watch their value go up as the noise and air pollution drops.

40$ direct operating cost per hour down to a stated 1$ and hour... I think they are dreaming but.....

youtu.be...


People have been using electric ducted fan power systems on their Radio Control model airplanes for several years. Some are quite impressive with their power output for a short time flight. I would think some kind of hybrid set up would work. Use electric motors but have an onboard generator that charges batteries and provides the power to the motors. The batteries would only be used in case of an emergency and would provide power to the motors for some 15 or twenty minutes.. youtu.be...

a reply to: 727Sky

Uh, where do you think the “idea” is coming from??

I mean there is already “stuff” using this technology out there. I think it is just a small trickle of what we already have that is coming out (see the “Green Lady” thread for general talk about this topic).

Yeah, it is coming. The wonder is how the electricity will be generated! Try to answer that question a couple of different ways and you may start to wonder how much the entire design of craft might have changed!!

I'm going to call it as total BS, I agree with Labtech. There have been engineering studies done on this very accurately in very recent years by manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus. In order to get something the size of say an A320 to work, you need multiple orders of magnitude in improvements to battery technology to just taxi and takeoff, more still to conduct a flight over a meaningful distance and with very high reliability. We are talking energy densities hundreds of times higher than the best we will have in five years time. And like all of these faux green credentialed systems, exactly WHAT will you create the recharge with? Because when you see the numbers involved you are talking vast areas of land given over to solar just to deal with it. You are far better off looking at alternative fuels than a dead end like this.

originally posted by: 83Liberty
a reply to: Phage
If you're rich you could buy lots of properties around airports and watch their value go up as the noise and air pollution drops.

Funny you should mention that.
I've got my own mountain not far from an airport, and got a call just last week, someone wants to pay me $700/year per acre to drop solar panels on it.

a reply to: thebozeian

Your right currently batteries provide about 250 watt-hours per kilogram. To be practical for flight you would need at least 800 watt-hours per kilogram. The other problem is CO2 emissions would actually increase as these planes took power from the electric grid. However other pollutants would decrease.

And even if we hit the magic number for batteries with current pace about 2150 still only be able to replace half the flights. So jets will continue to use fuel well into the next century

Maybe someone could figure out Telsa's tech and transmit the power up to the planes from ground stations.

unless we find a better alternative to lithium i don't see this whole electric future lasting very long because we'll run out of batteries within a few decades, the way i see it, with how abundant hydrogen and hydrocarbons are in space, we really don't need electric as much as people seem to think we do, just cleaner more efficient ways to handle what we already use.

going down the once failed path of electric is going to backfire on everyone and probably make things worse, i can almost guarantee it won't be what people are hoping for the future.

a reply to: namehere

True..

Also:

A Tesla Model 3 Produces More CO2 than a Diesel Car, Says New Study
interestingengineering.com...


A small diesel engine with turbo is most likely 1 of the best options today but diesel = considered as the worst option today lol.

Tesla's battery system is about the best on the commercial market right now, and it has energy density values from .9 - 2.6 megajoules per kilogram (MJ/kg). Avgas has about 42-49 MJ/kg.

So I get at least 16 times the energy from one kg or pound or whatever unit of avgas that I carry than I get in one same-unit of weight of Tesla battery I carry.

Since weight will always be a big deal for aircraft, this is a big problem, and will be for a long, long time.


What may be reasonably close for electric-powered aircraft is burning fuel to run a turbine-generator to produce electricity for distributed propulsion electric motors. Turbo-electric might produce some advantages. But practical battery -powered aircraft are a long, long way away. Burning fuel is too light in comparison.

a reply to: RadioRobert

Too light, and too cheap.

Aye, there's the rub.

Solar Challenger was pretty cool though. As was Solar Impulse. Old hang glider buddy was involved with both.