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The article is a little light on details, and does not cover how the batteries are charged in flight. Reading to the end, though, it appears that this was a tec
by pdabbadabba 12y ago
The article is a little light on details, and does not cover how the batteries are charged in flight. Reading to the end, though, it appears that this was a technology demonstration designed only to show that an electric motor can power an aircraft engine (a prop, I assume? This would be more interesting if it were a jet aircraft.), and that the weight of the batteries is not a deal-breaker, as some had thought they would be. So I suppose the batteries weren't recharged.
So, in short, the term "hybrid" makes this a little misleading, since it conjures imagined of the hybrid technology in cars. But this was a hybrid in the sense that an aircraft engine was powered by both a fossil-fuel burning four-stroke engine, and an electric motor in the same flight.
Perhaps one day, though, light enough batteries would allow a fully electric commercial aircraft (though hampered by the lack of an equivalent to regenerative braking), or technologies could be developed to partially charge the batteries using, e.g., air brakes during landing, or solar power.
- jakozaur 12y agoElon Musk mentioned electric supersonic jet: http://www.wired.com/2013/11/elon-musk-pickup-plane/ http://www.wired.com/2013/11/elon-musk-pickup-plane/ The truly disruptive if the hybrid means: - use petro to get to high altitude - use electric on super high altitude where oxygen is scare Though still not sure if it is feasible to build such thing, but this thing got huge potential.
- notahacker 12y agoThe accompanying video is much better than the article in that respect: it explains quite clearly the additional thrust from the electric power is most useful when the aircraft is climbing, and the rest of the time it can be recharged via the main engine. Fully electric commercial aircraft are going to need to stretch electric engines as well as battery technology well beyond what they're presently capable of. The video is probably being kind when suggesting it's mere "decades" away.
- phkahler 12y ago>> Fully electric commercial aircraft are going to need to stretch electric engines as well as battery technology well beyond what they're presently capable of. No, just the battery. Electric motors can reach 96 percent efficiency at the mid to high power levels you need in aircraft. I hit 95 percent for a motor and inverter combined with I was in EV development. It's all battery improvements from here.
- notahacker 12y agoHow does that efficiency transfer to edge cases like accelerating 500,000lb of mass to Mach 0.75 at 30000ft through air though? That's pretty standard performance for a modern commercial aircraft with intercontinental capability. Turbofan engines might be pretty inefficient for many purposes, but excel at generating the thrust required for commercial aircraft, which are rather more demanding than lightweight piston-powered testbeds. Serious question: are there any existing electric propulsion systems remotely capable of the same performance characteristics as a turbofan even assuming a zero weight battery?
- phkahler 12y ago>> Serious question: are there any existing electric propulsion systems remotely capable of the same performance characteristics as a turbofan even assuming a zero weight battery? Sorry about the late response, but NO. When I wrote that I forgot about power density. Electric motors are currently better than (or comparable to) ICE, but probably not close to a turbine.