Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

London-Paris Electric Flight 'in Decade'

posted by martyb on Friday March 24 2017, @03:57AM   Printer-friendly
from the solar-cells+dirigible+batteries+propellers dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

A new start-up says it intends to offer an electric-powered commercial flight from London to Paris in 10 years.

Its plane, yet to go into development, would carry 150 people on journeys of less than 300 miles.

Wright Electric said by removing the need for jet fuel, the price of travel could drop dramatically.

British low-cost airline Easyjet has expressed its interest in the technology.

"Easyjet has had discussions with Wright Electric and is actively providing an airline operator's perspective on the development of this exciting technology," the airline told the BBC.

Vaporware, but the expression of intent is interesting.

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
London-Paris Electric Flight 'in Decade' | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 19 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday March 24 2017, @05:31PM (2 children)

    by bob_super (1357) on Friday March 24 2017, @05:31PM (#483756)

    Easyjet turns their planes around in 20 minutes. That's how they make money off cheap flights.
    The electric flight will be slower. Sure, you save fuel, but you need to pay the people longer, cutting into the gains significantly. Therefore, you don't want to make the stops longer.

    Short of having a 300kV line on the tarmac, how on earth are they going to recharge a plane in 20 minutes?

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 1) by jrmcferren on Friday March 24 2017, @05:45PM (1 child)

    by jrmcferren (5500) on Friday March 24 2017, @05:45PM (#483764) Homepage

    The goal wouldn't be to recharge in 20 minutes, especially not at first. They can do a few things. They can offer electric as a budget option flying infrequently, or they could design the plane to have the battery modules easily swapped. If the latter is the case, all Easyjet would need to do is have enough battery modules (plus some spares of course) to last a day of flight operations. The batteries can then be recharged during off peak hours saving Easyjet even more money.

    • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday March 24 2017, @06:01PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Friday March 24 2017, @06:01PM (#483771)

      Reliably swapping giant batteries?
      Buying many giant batteries?

      Yup, that's a total non-starter as a commercial thing.
      And it's green tech, so it's a total non-starter a a USG thing.

      Go ask the Chinese government if they want a way-ahead-of-its-time prestige proto...