Electric aircraft set to take flight by 2026 under new agreements

Post by Hypx_ » Wed, Jul 14, 2021, 10:51 PM UTC

gunapologist99 wrote: post #128

One of the things that helped Southwest dominate in the short-haul space, particularly in the Texas Triangle, was optimizing "turn-time" with a target of less than 10 minutes to both deplane and board passengers (10 minutes!)[0] I wonder how lengthy charge cycles will affect the viability of fast turn times, especially for the short-haul segments that they're targeting for these new airliners. It seems like they'll n…

Post by Hypx_ » Wed, Jul 14, 2021, 10:54 PM UTC

Tossrock wrote: post #138

tadfisher wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Battery swaps could be viable, barring some complications in gate infrastructure and airframe design. Obviously this would be impossible if airframe designers incorporate battery cells in structural members, as some suggest to offset the weight penalty.

I've said for a while that electric planes are the perfect use case for aluminum-air batteries. Aluminum-air batteries have up to 8x the energy density of lithium ion, but are not rechargeable, so using them only makes sense if you have a system to recycle the used batteries. This doesn't make a ton of sense with cars, because cars are constantly going from random place to random place, and having to include a stop a…

Post by tpmx » Wed, Jul 14, 2021, 10:57 PM UTC

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #191

ehnto wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's part of what made high speed rail so compelling. When done well you can be on the train, sat down and moving in just a few minutes. No airport security, long ticketing lines, baggage check-ins or fuss at the gate. Just walk in, bags in the overhead, sit down and away you go.

With all due respect, if they had built airports in the middle of cities, we would all be complaining about why we had to take a taxi to the train station miles from the city centre. The big advantage of the train is being on the property ladder 100 years early.

Post by throwawayboise » Wed, Jul 14, 2021, 11:03 PM UTC

ars wrote: post #172

throwawayboise wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Small tertiary airports often served by short regional flights don't have a lot of infrastructure. They have a couple of fuel trucks and a gate agent/security screener/baggage handler who might all be the same person.

So instead of a fuel truck you have a battery swapper. You'll have to ship the batteries somewhere they can charge/reprocess, but you also need to ship fuel, so it's a 1-to-1 tradeoff (you can ship the batteries by land).

Post by bamboozled » Thu, Jul 15, 2021, 12:21 AM UTC

kevincox wrote: post #76

bamboozled wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also consider that hangers are often huge and could be covered in solar panels making the electricity to charge the planes. Drastically reducing fuel costs.

That seems irrelevant as that electricity could be collected and used whether or not it is used for planes. So while that may be a good idea it has little if any influence on whether or not it makes sense to use electric planes.