Posted on 01/12/2024 10:40:39 PM PST by Red Badger
Elysian says the world is vastly underestimating the capabilities of battery-electric airlinersElysian Aircraft
A Dutch startup says everyone's hugely underestimating the potential of battery-electric aircraft – that it's possible to build large battery-electric airliners covering distances most assume we'll need hydrogen for. Elysian plans to prove it.
The company doesn't believe it'll need some giant leap in batteries to do it, either; it says it can take 90 passengers some 800 km (497 miles) using a pack with 360 Wh/kg. Amprius, meanwhile, was shipping 450-Wh/kg cells back in 2022, and Chinese giant CATL launched a 500-Wh/kg "condensed" battery last year. Assuming some improvements, Elysian says it'll hit 1,000-km (621-mile) range figures, at which point the E9X aircraft could feasibly cover around 50% of all scheduled commercial flights.
It's quite a leap from the conventional thinking, which assumes that batteries are far too heavy to build airliners around, and really only suitable for small aircraft flying sub-400-km (250-mile) routes. Indeed, most of the action in clean aviation over the last several years has been in the gaseous hydrogen space, with liquid hydrogen a few years behind that and other solutions like ammonia popping up around the fringes.
(Excerpt) Read more at newatlas.com ...
Just out of curiosity...what would the minimum battery charge required by the FAA for the plane to fly with passengers on it? IOW at what point would a plane be forced to land...10%? 15%?
Good question.
I think it done by how much time between landing and fuel runs out. I believe it is 30 minutes. Pilots declare mayday fuel and are given a straight in approach or divert to another airport. This is more common with long haul international flights..
Batteries that catch fire while in the air just about doom the passengers and crew long before it could ever reach the ground. Oceanic Flight 815 from the “Lost” series would be a picnic in comparison. I believe the punchline on that series was that everybody had died and were in a parallel universe or something.
And 500 miles is not that great a distance, at least here in the states. Maybe more of a European thing...
… Elysian says batteries will do just fine. The company cites a couple of TU Delft studies (albeit studies whose lead author, Reynard De Vries, is also Elysian’s Director of Design and Engineering) as evidence.LOL, talk about argumentum ad verecundiam. “You must believe our studies or else.”
According to Venturebeat, the company says the industry’s mental block is the result of modern airline designs, which make maximal use of the highly efficient, mature powertrains they run. …
As to New Atlas, they are owned and operated by Gizmag Pty Ltd, in Victoria, Australia. Their claim to fame? As they say, "we’ve produced more than 60,000 articles." Their "production" is words, while the "Dutch start-up" will be -- uh -- words, for the time being. Because the plane is planned for ten years from now....
In the meantime, send money. Grants. Lobby your governments to give us -- oops -- "invest" in us.
"...the company will need to dig up billions – probably even tens of billions – of dollars to get there...."
Stockton Rush is the patron saint of the company. No?
Thankfully is is behind the curve. We are not being fooled by EV cars and certainly won’t be fooled by Electric planes.
Just look at e buses.
This all part of the scheme to take away our “freedom of movement” right which is saving America’s chance to survive Crime Boss Joey’s corrupt handlers right now.
It has propellers. That is not a good thing
and don’t forget “Plummet”. very important to known
Wondering about the HAZMAT situation when one crashes.
I’ll check in again when articles like this don’t have the words; “underestimate”, “potential”, ”assume”, “possible”, “plans”, “believe”, “says it can”.
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Or the word ‘Chinese’
So we’ll be seeing them bursting into flames at 20,000 feet.
Yes , bur how long is the extension cord ??
Also missing…
BOOM!
EXPLOSIVE!
BOMBSHELL!
SHOCKING!
Why make electric planes? There is no rationale for it whatsoever except for quiet battlefield ISR.
Great question. There are multiple ways this plane can catch fire, and anyone who's flown as much as I have and many on here have also, know planes routinely fly through rain, thunder and lightning storms and can get hit by lightning.
There's also potential water ingress issues and reactivity with the batteries and battery overheating issues which aren't 100% foolproof either.
BTW: how long does it take to recharge this plane? It's not like they're going to pull it up to a Tesla supercharger and get a full charge in 20 minutes or be able to recharge it in the time it takes to refuel a standard jet.
I'm sorry, but this idea is never going to seriously take off.
Looks and sounds like a black hole for OPM (other peoples’ money). Unlimited government subsidies to feed the coffers of the “connected”.
With that range and passenger load, this aircraft would be relegated to regional commuter usage.
And the number one way for a commuter airline to make money is to make multiple trips daily between a hub airport and a regional airport.
This think would make one trip, then be on the ground for multiple hours to recharge. No profit.
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