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New Hybrid Plane Will Add Second Electric Engine As Battery Costs Drop

posted by Fnord666 on Sunday December 03 2017, @11:24PM   Printer-friendly
from the regenerative-diving dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

Move over electric cars, here come electric planes:

Luckily, electrification isn't always an all-or-nothing proposition, especially in a plane with several engines. A new partnership from Airbus, Rolls-Royce and Siemens appears to take advantage of this fact. Dubbed the E-Fan X, this will be a demonstration hybrid aircraft which—initially—will have one of four gas turbine engines replaced by a two megawatt electric motor. But as the system matures, is demonstrated to be safe and, presumably, as battery costs come down, provisions will be made toward replacing a second turbine with another 2MW motor.
...
A big part of the motivation for projects like this is, apparently, the European Commission's Flightpath 2050 Vision for Aviation, which includes a reduction of CO2 by 75%, reduction of NOx by 90% and noise reduction by 65%. The happy side effect, presumably, will be cleaner air, lower dependence on fossil fuels, and cheaper flights too.

If they put solar panels on top and wind turbines on the wings, they can recharge while they fly.

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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 04 2017, @01:15AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 04 2017, @01:15AM (#604869)

    This is why all electric planes will never be seen in the skies.

    Electric planes are already in the skies and have been for a while now.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_aircraft [wikipedia.org]
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_electric_aircraft [wikipedia.org]

    There isn't a battery that can do that even as a wet dream of some scam artist trying to get venture funded.

    Actually, there is. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_polymer_battery [wikipedia.org]

    Are you laughing yet? If you aren't you shouldn't be discussing this subject.

    I'm not laughing, I'm shaking my head at your weapons-grade stupidity. Next time take a few minutes to research a subject before posting. You clearly know a very small fraction of what you think you know. As far as who shouldn't be discussing this subject, it's clear that you shouldn't be, but that didn't stop you. Why should lack of basic knowledge of a subject prevent someone from joining in a discussion as an authority figure? It's not like you'll be quickly called out as a moron. Oh, wait...

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  • (Score: 2) by jmorris on Monday December 04 2017, @03:36AM

    by jmorris (4844) on Monday December 04 2017, @03:36AM (#604894)

    Look at that list. How many of those are manned craft in commercial passenger service? Lots of experimental and unmanned, nothing suitable to replace even the smallest real airplane.

    And unless batteries get 10x better there won't be.