I agree that electric airplanes might have a future but have a hard time believing the battery technology exists. At least not hauling one ton the distance of 650 miles. Curious if other Freepers might have an insight.
Most flying lessons are local. They last about 1 hour.
For that? Yes, now electric planes might be okay.
Another app might be hybrid:
Tons of small airports suffer from noise complaints. What future pilots might do is get the engine warmed up and checked out, then rely for 2 minutes or so on electric for take-off, then switch to gas at a certain altitude.
For long flights, like city to city?
Wow, I don’t forsee that any time soon. I wouldn’t do it.
Too small scale
What you need is a huge ground effect plane. The larger the plane, the smaller the proportion of the load for batteries.
I did the calcs a few years ago. You could run a large aircraft, capable of carrying 1000 pax or 150 tons of cargo from SF to LA at approximately 250 mph, all electric, using currently available technology. Ground effect aircraft similar to Boeing Pelican concept. Operating offshore in established lanes.
Quicker than any bullet train at 1/10th the cost.
Then when there is a male pilot and 8 male passengers, the payload weight is 1719 pounds; 281 pounds short of a ton.
So no fatties or big and tall guys, and no more than 25 pounds total luggage/carry-ons per person.
It doesn’t say a RANGE of 650 miles, it says 650 MILES per HOUR. I have a tough time believing that, for sure, especially since the fastest prop plane on record is 623 mph...
With a blunder like that, I tend to ignore the article altogether.