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[–] 7 points 2 weeks ago

The timelines are at the very bottom, with 15 years until real impact. I had hoped for sooner.

80- or 90-seaters will be more close to 2040, even maybe beyond.”

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  • [–] 4 points 2 weeks ago

    This is already happening TODAY (sort of)

    I saw an electric conversion on a floatplane at the abbotsford airshow this summer. I think it was a beaver. Super interesting really.

    Basically their use case was 30 minute hops and they had DC fast chargers installed at each passenger drop off. In the ballpark of 100-150kw using CCS plugs like on cars. They claimed that the recharge time was about the same amount of time as it took to unload and reload passengers, maybe + 5 minutes. They had some battery cooling system that had the cooling radiators and fluid on the dock so it didn't have to be in the airplane.

    It's a super niche use case but super cool. Here's a link if anyone is interested.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    Lol. Current batteries sit at 250WH/Kg even with Solid state Batteries at 500WH/Kg this is still way of to Kerosene at 11.000WH/kg energy density. Even short flights will be rough with most of the plane being filled with batteries out of necessity

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  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

    Transporting the "fuel"... Aircraft is the last place we should be putting battery tech - today.

    Even cars aren't very good because most of the energy is for moving the vehicle, not the passengers (an existing problem for fuels, but current fuels as noted have a much higher weight-to-energy ratio). And with planes you're transporting less fuel weight as you fly.

    Bicycles and motorcycles (or scooters) are the best bang-for-kilowatt right now. We should be promoting those and increasing experience/expertise there.

    Even terrestrial trucks make far more sense than aircraft, currently.

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