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Electric aircraft have been around for just on 140 years: https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/tissandier-electric-airship/ https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/
by perilunar 3y ago
Electric aircraft have been around for just on 140 years:
https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/tissandier-electric-airship/ https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/tissandier-electric-ai...
An electric airship covered with thin-film photovoltaic cells could fly indefinitely, with a range limited only by maintenance and crew.
- simbolit 3y agoI'd argue that an electrically-powered gas-filled airship is more of a hybrid, as the helium/hydrogen does all the lifting..... but damn, that's very cool! This is before AC motors were even a thing, and the Siemens DC motor they were using was the highest of high-tech in existence at the time.
- perilunar 3y agoAn airship is still an aircraft, but not an airplane. Btw, this was a hydrogen filled airship — helium wasn't discovered yet!
- simbolit 3y agoOf course it's not an airplane. What gave you the impression I thought that? I was saying the helium does a lot of the work, so I am not sure if I'd call it a fully "electric aircraft", it seems more like a "hybrid aircraft", to use modern terminology.