The largest electric aircraft just flew [video]

Post by kvemkon » Fri, Sep 04, 2026, 11:02 AM UTC

class3shock wrote: post #155

Doing some math. Regional jets get somewhere around 45.9 seat miles per gallon (1). So 30 seats, going 125 miles would take around 80 gallons of jet fuel. This is likely low because all the jets listed are bigger and likely flying longer flights that are more efficient but just go with it. Jet fuel has a specific energy of 12 kwh/kg and a density of 6.7 lb/gal (2). So 80 gallons of jet fuel is 536 lb, or 243 kg, and…

Post by cpt_sobel » Fri, Sep 04, 2026, 11:21 AM UTC

ddlsmurf wrote: post #226

dmichulke wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This ignores the fact that there are also things that China does better or equal than Western companies. Like robots, solar panels, electric cars (?), AI models, electronics. They must be good at something, otherwise China wouldn't be where it is. So flat out dismissing anything from China is not enough of an argument. Mind you, I'm not saying you're generally wrong, just your "generally" is wrong. ;-)

I'd dispute they do any of those better, they stole the IP, then used public funds to make cheaper versions in the hope of leading the markets, including by being artificially more affordable while there is any competition. Besides electric cars and solar, it's very debatable wether those will actually be ecological in the end. For ex. they are still opening massive amounts of fossil based electric plants, so the tru…

Post by sandworm101 » Fri, Sep 04, 2026, 11:35 AM UTC

Post by jacquesm » Fri, Sep 04, 2026, 11:35 AM UTC

kvemkon wrote: post #249

jacquesm wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't convert between kWh and kW. 100 kWh = 6 MW for one minute... so there is plenty of power if the flight is short enough. They said the plane has 4 Tesla's worth of battery power, let's assume they are 80KWh packs then that's 320kWh that they could use for a short flight. That's a fair amount of juice, they definitely won't be flying long in a 25 ton aircraft without starting up the auxiliary motor but I have…

> more likely to be 50 kWh just for the take-off 1.6 MW power [1]. Would be 2 minutes for take-off realistic? [1] https://youtu.be/nM86DBOqgPM?t=475

Post by ZeroGravitas » Fri, Sep 04, 2026, 11:42 AM UTC

ddlsmurf wrote: post #244

ncruces wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Due to Iran, they're cutting oil/fuel imports 30% YoY, and consumption by the transportation sector by 5~10%.

And opened about 80GW of coal last year alone. That's the only advantage to electric trucks, they can run on coal too, even though you can only carry half the capacity whilst moving the same total weight, it still can make sense, just not economic and certainly not ecological. They sure love people writing articles about it though, and how green and solar they are.