solutions for the .01%
It always starts with them before it trickles down to the rest of us. Let's hope they use it and beta test it for us.
Cora – Kitty Hawk's prototype air taxi [video]
131–140 of 286 posts
Re: Cora – Kitty Hawk's prototype air taxi [video]
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agree with most of what you say, but two open questions- debt alone on $500k amounts to $180/day (10yr am, 6%). Then there’s cost of energy, dead time during recharge, dead leg trips to the next customer, dead let to charge port, maintenance will be rigorous even if the plane doesn’t need it because FAA. Landing fees while be high for urban landing points, plus ground crew at some locations. “Max $100/hr” is way low,…
I imagine this same conversation when the car was first becoming a reality. You have to start somewhere.
Also the hovercraft - it's just that those turned out to be pretty niche.
Re: Cora – Kitty Hawk's prototype air taxi [video]
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Electricity has to be generated and in the US that's mainly coal. Huh? Coal is only 30% of the USA’s energy production, natural gas is higher at 34%. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=electrici... The other points in your post are equally dubious, do you have sources?
Wikipedia lists energy consumption being 70% coal, I'm not sure why the large discrepancy there. I got my information about electrical engines from a website trying to talk up how great it was that we were moving away from oil based engines, but even there they admitted that until more power generation is switched over to renewable that emissions are higher with electric cars. Which makes perfect sense and is not dub…
> Wikipedia lists energy consumption being 70% coal, I'm not sure why the large discrepancy there.
Link?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_the_United_States#Ge...
Re: Cora – Kitty Hawk's prototype air taxi [video]
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could you please name the technology? I work with renewable energy and I have no idea. Are you talking about nuclear?
Ancestor comment is probably daydreaming about being in a Kardashev 2 civilization with a full Dyson Swarm collecting 100% of the Sun's total energy output, in all directions. Some estimate we're currently only at Kardashev 0.8, harnessing about 80% of what energy from the Sun hits the Earth, while others argue that this percentage is much lower. Ideas are easy, implementation is hard. Edit for clarity.
>Some estimate we're currently only at Kardashev 0.8, harnessing about 80% of what energy from the Sun hits the Earth.
80% seems super high, unless by 'harnessing' you also mean things like 'the sun energy warms up the ocean allowing fish to live which we then consume for some% of the energy that sun sent'.
I'd be pretty surprised if efficiently used energy / energy hitting the earth from the sun was >20%.
Re: Cora – Kitty Hawk's prototype air taxi [video]
#135I don't like that they're touting no emissions. Electricity has to be generated and in the US that's mainly coal. Hybrid vehicles are closer to having it right where running the car charges it and you can get by burning significantly less fuel. Strictly electrical has not been shown to be an energy saver or a flag bearer of emissions reduction. In many cases so far it has been a cause of more pollution than modern en…
They said this was starting in NZ, which is quite different than the US in terms of energy sources.
Re: Cora – Kitty Hawk's prototype air taxi [video]
#136Contrary to almost every comment here so far, this is both innovative and energy efficient. Let's talk energy efficiency first. Once it's up in the air, it's has a similar profile to a normal single engine airplane. A Cirrus SR22 can go 1,200 miles on 80 gallons of gas. That's roughly speaking 15 miles per gallon - better than many pickup trucks or large SUVs. And that's while going 180 mph. Slower is more fuel effic…
I don't get how it is physically possible that this plane is energy efficient? The smaller prop, the less efficient the thrust conversion. You also need laminar air for rear props to be efficient. The drag on the wings should create a ridiculous wake behind the aircraft. I would love to learn how KittyHawk are trying to mitigate these problems (which are huge constraints even for major players).
It is all relative on efficiency IMHO. And since it is electric which can be powered by "clean energy" how do you measure it.
Re: Cora – Kitty Hawk's prototype air taxi [video]
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wikipedia lists energy consumption being 70% coal, I'm not sure why the large discrepancy there. I got my information about electrical engines from a website trying to talk up how great it was that we were moving away from oil based engines, but even there they admitted that until more power generation is switched over to renewable that emissions are higher with electric cars. Which makes perfect sense and is not dub…
> Wikipedia lists energy consumption being 70% coal, I'm not sure why the large discrepancy there. Link? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_the_United_States#Ge...
Yeah that'd be the link it's the first image on the page.
Re: Cora – Kitty Hawk's prototype air taxi [video]
#138Small planes have had parachutes for quite some time [1] now and have saved many lives. Why on earth would this company put people up into the air unmanned without one? [Personally, if a parachute was onboard I wouldn't mind jumping into one.] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQyrPVIIQdE
> [Personally, if a parachute was onboard I wouldn't mind jumping into one.]
The cabin opens in a clamshell fashion and that appears to be the only way in or out. Opening the canopy mid-flight would probably result in shearing it off once it catches even a small amount of air. From there, you're left with exit point that's ahead of the wing, ahead of the main propeller, and ahead of the rather wide tail section.
Maybe you'd be clear if you hugged the bottom of the door and kind of… rolled underneath at exit?
As a skydiver who's exited all sorts of planes in all sorts of ways, I would rather take my chances landing with that plane.
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Edit: on further review, I believe you mean "if the aircraft were equipped with CAPS, I wouldn't mind flying in one" as opposed to "if the aircraft came with a bail-out rig, I wouldn't mind strapping it on". Nevermind :-)
Re: Cora – Kitty Hawk's prototype air taxi [video]
#139Am I the only one who finds it endlessly annoying to refer to anything that's primarily (or exclusively) powered by a battery as "green" or "emissions free" or "pollution free" or anything else? What about the energy to manufacture, ship, assemble, design, test (or clean up when it fails), etc. That all takes energy and most of that energy probably comes from coal or some other environmental nightmare resource.
All manufactured goods needs to be produced, and that production invariably requires energy and raw materials.
There is no alternative method of production that requires no energy or resources. Instead, the distinction is made between things that cannot be used without creating harmful emissions (ICE for example) and things that can be used without creating those emissions (like battery power).
But you are correct that it takes energy to "manufacture, ship, assemble, design, test" etc. This is true for literally everything, from pencils to houses to flying cars, and it always has been.
Re: Cora – Kitty Hawk's prototype air taxi [video]
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Wikipedia lists energy consumption being 70% coal, I'm not sure why the large discrepancy there. Link? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_the_United_States#Ge...
Yeah that'd be the link it's the first image on the page.
The image/graph you're referencing illustrates "United States total primary energy consumption by fuel in 2015". Total, not electric.
You were discussing production of electricity, which is shown in the table I linked on that page to be 32%.