Large scale air transport isn’t going to benefit from electric flight until they switch to zeppelins or we somehow master beamed power from space. The difference in energy density between batteries and combustible fuel is simply too great. If commercial aviation is going to become carbon neutral in our lifetimes it’s going to be through carbon neutral fuels. Can those be made cheap enough? Maybe.
General aviation on the other hand (“doctor killers”) could go electric. The range requirements and the size of the aircraft are much smaller. We already have solar powered drone aircraft; scaling those up to something that can hold a small number of people is a matter of refining the technology, which engineers do very well.
Maybe, like gliders and rockets, we’ll solve the BEV aircraft problem by using multiple stages: a tow plane with enough battery and engine power to get the plane aloft will spend most of its energy at the source airport doing that, and once at altitude it will disengage and return. That would greatly decrease the amount of battery that the main aircraft would need.
Or maybe the first stage is a zeppelin? I still don’t think you could have a BEV 737-sized vehicle but that might work with a smaller but still commercially-sized aircraft.
Large scale air transport isn’t going to benefit from electric flight until they switch to zeppelins or we somehow master beamed power from space. The difference in energy density between batteries and combustible fuel is simply too great. If commercial aviation is going to become carbon neutral in our lifetimes it’s going to be through carbon neutral fuels. Can those be made cheap enough? Maybe.
General aviation on the other hand (“doctor killers”) could go electric. The range requirements and the size of the aircraft are much smaller. We already have solar powered drone aircraft; scaling those up to something that can hold a small number of people is a matter of refining the technology, which engineers do very well.
Maybe, like gliders and rockets, we’ll solve the BEV aircraft problem by using multiple stages: a tow plane with enough battery and engine power to get the plane aloft will spend most of its energy at the source airport doing that, and once at altitude it will disengage and return. That would greatly decrease the amount of battery that the main aircraft would need.
Or maybe the first stage is a zeppelin? I still don’t think you could have a BEV 737-sized vehicle but that might work with a smaller but still commercially-sized aircraft.