Electric Airplane

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Basics

  • An Airplane that uses electricity from batteries to drive its engine, rather than fuel, or solar energy
  • Can be done, but poses some intresting problems; most fueled aircraft get lighter as the fuel is depleted, this is not the case with batteries (Thus in User:Eric's Opinion, outside of Solar Psudeosattalites or electric hybrids, electricity shouldn't be used on aircraft. Instead use biofuels and hydrogen in traditional engines, or fuel cell driven electric engines
  • One reported advantage is low cost to run due to fuel costs being muchh lower thanks to the cost of electricity relitive to jet fuel etc

See Also

Useful Links

  • A spectrum.ieee.org Article on a small nine seater regional scale electric airliner (Some notes on the article: While it is certianly great an airline is adopting green tech, don't be deceived, due to the weight remaining constant due to lacck of fuel loss the range of these aircraft is limited mainly to regional flights, island hops, or training flights. The same goes for the issue of power density due to battery tech, range is limited and the aircraft can't become too large. Still though, as the airline is probably well aware the cost savings this plane will make over a similarly sized turbofan or turboprop driven aircraft will surely be worth it.