Dan Warnick

A powerful new battery could give us electric planes that don’t pollute

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"Stumbled" across this MIT Technology Review article about electric airplanes.  Pretty unbiased review with some big surprises (to me, at least), and it addresses problematic issues that will have to be faced as well.

(I say "Stumbled" because I have to wonder if some algo or other is putting things like this in my path these days)

A powerful new battery could give us electric planes that don’t pollute

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Well, this is certainly interesting. Still far in the future, however.

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7 hours ago, Dan Warnick said:

"Stumbled" across this MIT Technology Review article about electric airplanes.  Pretty unbiased review with some big surprises (to me, at least), and it addresses problematic issues that will have to be faced as well.

(I say "Stumbled" because I have to wonder if some algo or other is putting things like this in my path these days)

A powerful new battery could give us electric planes that don’t pollute

We heard it about cars, that it was impossible to create competitive EV's and their here, trucks are coming and now I hear how impossible battery powered planes are. They are being worked on and at least for short haul will make it, it seems and that is a big chunk of the market.

Hoping to get out to MIT at some point been promised a tour around some of the more interesting parts.

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3 hours ago, DA? said:

We heard it about cars, that it was impossible to create competitive EV's and their here, trucks are coming and now I hear how impossible battery powered planes are. They are being worked on and at least for short haul will make it, it seems and that is a big chunk of the market.

Hoping to get out to MIT at some point been promised a tour around some of the more interesting parts.

Aluminium air batteries offer the best energy densities and Aluminium is light and relatively cheap and abundant (most common metal on earth). There is a lot of research work going on in this area. A breakthrough in terms of durability and cost would herald a battery with storage capacities comparable to that of petrol which would open up many possibilities in terms of electric planes at least for short haul, shipping and would potentially wipe out the ICE for road transport.

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3 hours ago, DA? said:

We heard it about cars, that it was impossible to create competitive EV's and their here, trucks are coming and now I hear how impossible battery powered planes are. They are being worked on and at least for short haul will make it, it seems and that is a big chunk of the market.

Hoping to get out to MIT at some point been promised a tour around some of the more interesting parts.

I didn't take the article to say how impossible battery powered airplanes are; quite the opposite, really.  That is what surprised me about it.  Short haul aviation needs a boost and if this does it, I for one am all for it.  Deregulation left many small markets unserved or severely underserved, and the reason was simple economics.  I consider this development alone, which was a major plus cited in the article, to be a major win for all concerned.

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4 minutes ago, Dan Warnick said:

I didn't take the article to say how impossible battery powered airplanes are; quite the opposite, really.  That is what surprised me about it.  Short haul aviation needs a boost and if this does it, I for one am all for it.  Deregulation left many small markets unserved or severely underserved, and the reason was simple economics.  I consider this development alone, which was a major plus cited in the article, to be a major win for all concerned.

Sorry, didn't make myself clear, I totally agree with you. I'd love to see electric planes, make my carbon footprint a lot smaller. Also love to see airships catering for short haul small town to small town trips, hyperloop and even EV hotels, ride overnight in an EV with a bed. So many possibilities to make travel not such a nightmare it is now.

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4 hours ago, DA? said:

Sorry, didn't make myself clear, I totally agree with you. I'd love to see electric planes, make my carbon footprint a lot smaller. Also love to see airships catering for short haul small town to small town trips, hyperloop and even EV hotels, ride overnight in an EV with a bed. So many possibilities to make travel not such a nightmare it is now.

DA,

Total oil used by aviation last time I looked was approx 17% by far the largest use of Oil hence pollution from fossil fuels is personal transportation and small delivery vans.

Also from a public health point of view in cities aircraft are not so important.

So if the world can solve the small vehicle emission issue there really should be no need for fanciful electric ( non exisitent) passenger planes.

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11 minutes ago, Auson said:

DA,

Total oil used by aviation last time I looked was approx 17% by far the largest use of Oil hence pollution from fossil fuels is personal transportation and small delivery vans.

Also from a public health point of view in cities aircraft are not so important.

So if the world can solve the small vehicle emission issue there really should be no need for fanciful electric ( non exisitent) passenger planes.

All pollution is important and aircraft spread their pollution onto other countries. Electric planes will be cheaper to run and will be able to fly in and out of airports when normal jets are to loud. They are working on EP's just up the road from me, it's coming, in a while.

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2 minutes ago, DA? said:

All pollution is important and aircraft spread their pollution onto other countries. Electric planes will be cheaper to run and will be able to fly in and out of airports when normal jets are to loud. They are working on EP's just up the road from me, it's coming, in a while.

I don't believe they are coming, there is not even a prototype electric passenger jet. Which means we must be at least 10 years away. I think we will always be 10 years away.

Just my 2 cents 

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7 minutes ago, Auson said:

I don't believe they are coming, there is not even a prototype electric passenger jet. Which means we must be at least 10 years away. I think we will always be 10 years away.

Just my 2 cents 

Yeah, ten years isn't far, that's near term for me.

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38 minutes ago, DA? said:

Yeah, ten years isn't far, that's near term for me.

I've waited in some long check in lines at airports before but 10 years would really take the biscuit. It would be like Tom Hanks in that film The Terminal !

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4 minutes ago, Auson said:

I've waited in some long check in lines at airports before but 10 years would really take the biscuit. It would be like Tom Hanks in that film The Terminal !

Somethings can't be rushed, but worth waiting for.

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