Electric planes

[AnOutsider]

Yes, we did that on my first (but not only) flying lesson. My instructor said, 'So what do you do now?'. I said, 'Turn it back on.' He still laughs about that.

haha, everyone is wondering why I'm sitting here apparently laughing out loud at nothing. Thanks for the technicals jcstp. I'd never bothered to look up how it was done, was just grateful it did it

 

[Thumper]

Electric Airplane

Go Volta Volare! Inside The First Production-Ready Electric Airplane | Popular Science

 

[jcstp]

 

[Lloyd]

Cool concept! One problem they will need to overcome is that turbine engines do not like to be (and cannot be) restarted at high altitude. If running on electricity only, and more power is needed this could be an issue.

 

[canardlover]

Truth about aircraft

Go Volta Volare! Inside The First Production-Ready Electric Airplane | Popular Science

Please go to Jeff Kerlo experiemental aircraft concept developer and design visionary.Look!! Its ORION! Faster than a Speeding Bullet ?? Able to leap small countries in a single bound!!! | Jeff Kerlo Designer,Orion,Raptor Extreme,V-Raptor, Velocity Aircraft ,Taras Rud, Volta Volare, V-Twin, Volta Volare GT4 , Rud Aero, Hybrid Electric Aircraft, Hybrid Electric, Green Aircraft for truth about aircraft mentioned in article.

 

[TEG]

The Chevy Volt of airplanes, the Volta Volare GT4, is ready to fly | ExtremeTech

 

[domenick]

Sigh. It's not electric exactly. It's a hybrid. Also, not the the first "production-ready" electric airplane. See Pipistrel Taurus.

 

[roblab]

Essentially, yes. Cut the engines and let it just coast in the air. The plane was naturally supported and it did glide. I don't know how long it would, but he said he'd done a landing in a field with no engine before (as part of an exercise).

The lighter the plane, the less speed you need, so an ultralight plane (pretend plane) can glide at 25mph and stalls below 20. I have landed in a tree (in the woods) by pulling up just before I coasted into it, got a crane, lifted it down, found no damage, and flew it home from the field. Can't do that with very many planes.

 

[Norbert]

Then there is building electric airplanes used for regular public flights.

 

[TEG]

For an airplane that could cost maybe a million $, you could put a lot of battery in there. Say it had a few hundred kWH and could go 400 miles (SF to LA), and charge overnight on the Supercharger...
Quite a few people could use that. Transoceanic, and transcontinental planes are probably best left using liquid fuel for now, but lots of air traffic is intrastate.

 

[Robert.Boston]

EV airplanes will likely use battery swap tech. They are simply too valuable to have out of service for long periods during the day.

But has Elon ever expressed any interest in airplanes? Seems like a very different market. Even Saab separated their aero and car divisions.

 

[VolkerP]

In an interview, [Elon Musk] was asked what project he would do if there were time to spare. He mentioned electric planes, as well as the opinion that intra continental air traffic would be possible with today's technology. Sorry I have no pointer to that interview for reference, perhaps someone else is better organized?

The idea of switching batteries in an aircraft fuselage sounds a bit daunting. You need airtight openings, large dimension. You need a mechanism to tightly lock the pack in place but release it and move it out of the plane. The construction cost & weight penalty must be weighted against charge time.

 

[daniel]

Then there is building electric airplanes used for regular public flights.

Viable commercial electric airplanes will require much lighter batteries than anything now on the radar. A much more feasible solution will be synthetic liquid fuels made using sustainable energy sources such as wind and solar. A car needs to accelerate its mass, but the road supports its weight, and once at cruising speed the only significant counterforce is air resistance, which is independent of vehicle weight. But an airplane must support its weight against gravity for the entire flight. Thus far more energy is required. And today's batteries hold far less energy than the same weight of liquid fuel. There are electric airplanes but they need an enormous wing area to weight ratio. They even have an electric plane with solar panels that can stay aloft indefinitely, but again, it has enormous wings for its weight. I don't think electric airplanes will ever be the most economical solution, given that we have the technology to make liquid fuel from sustainable energy.

In fact, one possible fail mode for electric transportation would be if synthetic fuels become available cheaply enough and batteries fail to come down enough in weight and price.

 

[AndyM]

Theoretically, it seems like a crazy, crazy idea - for now:

Lithium-ion batteries provide around 0.36 MJ/kg ( source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery )
Jet A aviation fuel provides around 43 MJ/kg (source: http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2003/EvelynGofman.shtml )

 

[TEG]

...Sorry I have no pointer to that interview for reference, perhaps someone else is better organized?...

Even in the Iron Man 2 movie... Something like "I have this idea for an Electric Jet..." was his line...

Elon Musk on electric jet transports - Neowin Forums
Musk's next?: electric jets - MURC

Tesla magnate may land electric jet in SoCal - San Francisco Business Times

...“If (Downey) is still available down the road when SpaceX needs to expand or I start the electric jet venture, I will go there myself,” the letter said.
Electric jet venture? Musk did not elaborate...

http://youtu.be/UwT3Y0lkYaQ?t=2m26s

 

[Lloyd]

Paper from above reference is interesting, but LOTS needs to happen to make it viable!

http://ewh.ieee.org/tc/csc/europe/newsforum/pdf/LuongoC_2AP01.pdf

 

[Norbert]

Viable commercial electric airplanes will require much lighter batteries than anything now on the radar.

That just makes it a worthy challenge for Elon.

They are already about to build small about-4-seater plugin-hybrid planes (without huge wings), which can fly a certain time electric, so it does seem possible, even if not today, yet.

The goals are: vertical take-off, supersonic, very cheap to operate. If huge wings are necessary, then vertical take-off might make that a smaller problem in terms of airport space required.

I think electricity will be the most economical form of energy, especially once solar goes further than grid parity.

 

[jerry33]

I'm aways surprised that there isn't more interest in LTA. It would seem that solar, LTA, and electric would make a lot of sense as there is a lot of area in an LTA.

 

[Bearman]

I'm aways surprised that there isn't more interest in LTA. It would seem that solar, LTA, and electric would make a lot of sense as there is a lot of area in an LTA.

LTA?
Please spell out new abbreviations for us mortals, somehow after communing with dark spirits i feel you are talking about airships?

 

[dmckinstry]

LTA?
Please spell out new abbreviations for us mortals, somehow after communing with dark spirits i feel you are talking about airships?

I'm sure he's talking about lighter than air. If you're not worried about speed, LTA seems a quite reasonable use for electric power.