141–150 of 380 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Surprised they are not using linear opposed piston crankshaftless generators to make an extended range EV aircraft. Smaller, lighter, simpler, cheaper, and more flexible about fuel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeG4zLlFkak Linear engine starts around 11:19
Turbines are extremely reliable and well-understood in aviation propulsion
Generation II then.
"Half of all flights in the world are under 2 hours." Then they give examples of Fjord-town hopping in Norway, or Island hopping in Hawaii, which seem very niche.
Will they be able to compete in any of the busiest routes? Could it take me Melbourne-Sydney in 1 - 2 hours for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_busiest_passenger_flig...
Maybe I missed it but they didn't delve much into the TAM. "Half of all flights in the world are under 2 hours." Then they give examples of Fjord-town hopping in Norway, or Island hopping in Hawaii, which seem very niche. Will they be able to compete in any of the busiest routes? Could it take me Melbourne-Sydney in 1 - 2 hours for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_busiest_passenger_flig...
The range is apparently 125 miles electric, and 500 miles as a hybrid. That's not enough for Melbourne Sydney. Give it a couple doubling-times though (5 years total?) and it will be.
Meanwhile aircraft take forever to develop and there should be enough of a market in shorter hall flights to occupy a scaling company in the meantime anyways.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Cheap electric transportation can finally offset USA's lacking rail commutes I'm not sure how building an electric aircraft would help with this. Are people going to suddenly switch to commuting by plane? Fixing America's commute problem is primarily an urban planning one (ie, putting all the homes nowhere near anything) and not an insufficient-electric-aircraft one.
It's clearly marketed for remote communities with little to no connecting infrastructure. Think Alaskan wilderness or Hawaiian island hopping. This isn't for getting from LA to Denver for skiing.
More likely, this replaces the turboprop or commuter jet from Colorado Springs to Denver to catch the connecting fright to any other major airport.
Is this EV or Hybrid? The founder seems to sneak in the word "hybrid", around 1m30 mark in the video below. https://youtu.be/nM86DBOqgPM?si=5unXLmPxk6M_kmuN&t=86 Note: not being negative, I just want to ensure I understand correctly since the title might imply something else. Update: confirmed, it does use aviation fuel. > "The airplane will also include a reserve-hybrid configuration, consisting of two turbo generat…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
USA's lacking rail commutes come down to the fact that America's leaders made the deliberate decision to destroy its own rail network and force people onto planes. The electric range of this aircraft is 125 miles[0], which is at the low end of the range where conventional intercity rail is time-competitive with the plane. A bullet train would absolutely smoke this. tl;dr I have a few qualms with this app[1]. Now, thi…
I'm not sure the Midwest is the intended target, here. I think it's more suited to small, frequent trips like island hopping or trips to remote settlements.
The key thing question is whether smaller more frequent flights eat up too much runway time to be economical.
Maybe I missed it but they didn't delve much into the TAM. "Half of all flights in the world are under 2 hours." Then they give examples of Fjord-town hopping in Norway, or Island hopping in Hawaii, which seem very niche. Will they be able to compete in any of the busiest routes? Could it take me Melbourne-Sydney in 1 - 2 hours for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_busiest_passenger_flig...
Boston, Massachusetts (1h) Washington, D.C. (1h) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (45m) Baltimore, Maryland (1h) Toronto, Ontario (1h 45m) Montreal, Quebec (1h 30m) Cleveland, Ohio (1h 45m) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1h 15m) Buffalo, New York (1h 10m) Providence, Rhode Island (45m) Portland, Maine (1h 10m) Bermuda (1h 50m) Nantucket, Massachusetts (1h 15m) Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts (1h 25m) Ottawa, Ontario (1h 30m) Quebec City, Quebec (1h 45m) Rochester, New York (1h 5m) Syracuse, New York (1h) Manchester, New Hampshire (1h) Bangor, Maine (1h 25m) Burlington, Vermont (1h 10m) Richmond, Virginia (1h 10m) Norfolk, Virginia (1h 15m) Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina (1h 25m) Charlotte, North Carolina (1h 45m) Greensboro, North Carolina (1h 30m) Charleston, South Carolina (2h) Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (1h 45m) Savannah, Georgia (2h)
If it gets a little better than current 2 hour flight time then Detroit Chicago and Atlanta are in range - very significant.
Maybe I missed it but they didn't delve much into the TAM. "Half of all flights in the world are under 2 hours." Then they give examples of Fjord-town hopping in Norway, or Island hopping in Hawaii, which seem very niche. Will they be able to compete in any of the busiest routes? Could it take me Melbourne-Sydney in 1 - 2 hours for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_busiest_passenger_flig...
Batteries are rapidly improving (on many metrics, but the relevant one here is increasing in energy density). The range is apparently 125 miles electric, and 500 miles as a hybrid. That's not enough for Melbourne Sydney. Give it a couple doubling-times though (5 years total?) and it will be. Meanwhile aircraft take forever to develop and there should be enough of a market in shorter hall flights to occupy a scaling c…
Maybe I missed it but they didn't delve much into the TAM. "Half of all flights in the world are under 2 hours." Then they give examples of Fjord-town hopping in Norway, or Island hopping in Hawaii, which seem very niche. Will they be able to compete in any of the busiest routes? Could it take me Melbourne-Sydney in 1 - 2 hours for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_busiest_passenger_flig...
These kind of startup excite me. More so than the "next killer app" or "look what we shoved AI into." Cheap electric transportation can finally offset USA's lacking rail commutes and attack Europe's short flight market (which is already cheap). Now we need bigger planes or more frequent planes and the next startup to solve the energy needs.
Btw, I kind of changed my opinion on AI. Finally, everybody can build an app, so we no longer have to pretend the people who built one and made it big are some sort tech pioneers pushing humanity forward. Likewise, if you're a nerd, you can spend your free time building stuff you thought you would never get around to. Yes, AI as marketed is a bit of a snakeoil, but much more real and meaningful than crypto and social…