Startup Announces Plan for 150-Seat Battery-Powered Plane
1–10 of 27 posts
Re: Startup Announces Plan for 150-Seat Battery-Powered Plane
#2This is so clearly a great opportunity for electric tech - Airplanes can be used on fixed trips of known distance, and shooting for the 150 passenger size seems ideal for the limitations that electric would entail.
Think SF-LA, there are probably 1000 flights / week between these two areas, and some of those could be handled by a plane like this.
Re: Startup Announces Plan for 150-Seat Battery-Powered Plane
#3This is so clearly a great opportunity for electric tech - Airplanes can be used on fixed trips of known distance, and shooting for the 150 passenger size seems ideal for the limitations that electric would entail. Think SF-LA, there are probably 1000 flights / week between these two areas, and some of those could be handled by a plane like this.
> Airplanes can be used on fixed trips of known distance, and shooting for the 150 passenger size seems ideal for the limitations that electric would entail
Yes and no. The major problem for electric planes (apart from the fact that the energy density of the best batteries is piss poor compared to Jet-A) is the weight does not decrease throughout the flight. This means you need more robust landing gear as the MTOW and MLW are essentially the same. More robust landing gear = more empty weight = less payload capacity = less paying meatbags/cargo.
There is also the issue of time to recharge. Short flights such as SFO-LAX that you mentioned would not require much in terms of refueling time (on the order of 20 minutes or so maximum). It would take a lot of good engineering to charge a plane this quickly.
Overall, I think all companies tend to underestimate the cost and time associated with designing a new airplane. Bombardier was billions over budget and years behind schedule for their C series.
Same for Airbus with the A350.
Same for Boeing with the 787.
tl;dr - Making planes is hard.
Re: Startup Announces Plan for 150-Seat Battery-Powered Plane
#4On the face of it, it's a very scary proposal. The energy density of hydrocarbon fuels is high, and they are well understood. A comparable battery, on the other hand - it sounds like a fire hazard the size of a planeload of Samsung phones.
Re: Startup Announces Plan for 150-Seat Battery-Powered Plane
#5This is so clearly a great opportunity for electric tech - Airplanes can be used on fixed trips of known distance, and shooting for the 150 passenger size seems ideal for the limitations that electric would entail. Think SF-LA, there are probably 1000 flights / week between these two areas, and some of those could be handled by a plane like this.
> Airplanes can be used on fixed trips of known distance, and shooting for the 150 passenger size seems ideal for the limitations that electric would entail Yes and no. The major problem for electric planes (apart from the fact that the energy density of the best batteries is piss poor compared to Jet-A) is the weight does not decrease throughout the flight. This means you need more robust landing gear as the MTOW an…
Almost sounds like rocket science
Re: Startup Announces Plan for 150-Seat Battery-Powered Plane
#6This is so clearly a great opportunity for electric tech - Airplanes can be used on fixed trips of known distance, and shooting for the 150 passenger size seems ideal for the limitations that electric would entail. Think SF-LA, there are probably 1000 flights / week between these two areas, and some of those could be handled by a plane like this.
Nope. Power density is simply not there.
Re: Startup Announces Plan for 150-Seat Battery-Powered Plane
#7" If batteries don’t get dramatically better in the next decade, we design our plane as a hybrid with electric motors, like a Volt. It still has great cost savings as compared to today’s planes, and it doesn’t require massive battery advances.
If batteries do get a lot better in the next decade, our plane is fully-electric and has fantastic cost savings. See chart #2 below; a near-future jump to a chemistry like Li-Metal doesn’t seem beyond the realm of possibility." - https://weflywright.com/blog/
I'm glad to see they have a contingency plan for not being fully electric.
Re: Startup Announces Plan for 150-Seat Battery-Powered Plane
#8This is so clearly a great opportunity for electric tech - Airplanes can be used on fixed trips of known distance, and shooting for the 150 passenger size seems ideal for the limitations that electric would entail. Think SF-LA, there are probably 1000 flights / week between these two areas, and some of those could be handled by a plane like this.
> Airplanes can be used on fixed trips of known distance, and shooting for the 150 passenger size seems ideal for the limitations that electric would entail Yes and no. The major problem for electric planes (apart from the fact that the energy density of the best batteries is piss poor compared to Jet-A) is the weight does not decrease throughout the flight. This means you need more robust landing gear as the MTOW an…
I wouldn't think you'd recharge the plane. Swapping the batteries out would be the answer to the quick turn around.
Re: Startup Announces Plan for 150-Seat Battery-Powered Plane
#9This is so clearly a great opportunity for electric tech - Airplanes can be used on fixed trips of known distance, and shooting for the 150 passenger size seems ideal for the limitations that electric would entail. Think SF-LA, there are probably 1000 flights / week between these two areas, and some of those could be handled by a plane like this.
> Airplanes can be used on fixed trips of known distance, and shooting for the 150 passenger size seems ideal for the limitations that electric would entail Yes and no. The major problem for electric planes (apart from the fact that the energy density of the best batteries is piss poor compared to Jet-A) is the weight does not decrease throughout the flight. This means you need more robust landing gear as the MTOW an…
I find it very hard to believe that landing gear isn't fine with landing under full starting weight -- after all what if you need to land shortly after taking off for some reason? (return to leaving airport.) So I "plane" don't believe it's an issue.
Regarding fuel weight not decreasing - could hydrogen fuel cells be burned and the resulting (h2o, water vapor) simply be left as contrails?
Reference: https://www.quora.com/What-does-hydrogen-give-off-when-burne... "In a flame of pure hydrogen gas, burning in air, the hydrogen (H2) reacts with oxygen (O2) to form water (H2O) and releases heat."
Re: Startup Announces Plan for 150-Seat Battery-Powered Plane
#10I get it, fuel costs are huge for airlines. But fuel costs are still small beans compared to capital utilization. I hope they have a feasible plan for recharging and getting back in the air without significant delays. That is a very significant amount of energy to shove into a plane in such a timeframe. If recharge times are anywhere close to an hour, this idea is DOA.