3 ms·
The weight of the electric motors is definitely a lot less, but what most people don't think about is that the main weight of an electric airplane is in the bat
by blktiger 9y ago
The weight of the electric motors is definitely a lot less, but what most people don't think about is that the main weight of an electric airplane is in the batteries. The battery pack in a Tesla Model S is ~1300 lbs. The batteries required for an aircraft to have an hour long flight time still add too much weight. Batteries have gotten light enough to make it feasible, but we still need major advances in energy density to make electric airplanes make a lot of sense.
- sokoloff 9y agoPetro-fueled airplanes also have the advantage that they can be flown lighter for short trips, trading off either performance and/or cabin load for fuel load. They also land shorter (by virtue of being lighter) at the end of typical flights. Battery airplanes that carry the full weight of the batteries all the time have worst-case takeoff, climb, and landing performance on all flights. It's easy to notice even 100 pounds difference in loading on light airplanes. That's a little under 17 gallons of avgas or about 90 minutes' fuel burn for a typical trainer. If I want to take 2 extra 175# adults on a local flight, I can just leave off 60 gallons of fuel and have the same performance for a short flight.