All Electric Plane

[tspear]

Yup, while it is true that we "don't know what we don't know" I don't think there's going to be a Eureka moment where we'll suddenly have batteries with the same energy storage capacity as the equivalent volume of a fossil fuel. People like to say that "the technology will improve" and "someday XYZ" and while part of that is true I don't there being a breakthrough technological upgrade like we saw with the advent of the steam engine, internal combustion engine, jet engine, nuclear power, etc. Electricity and battery have been around since the 1800s.. it's not a new thing

The limitation for cars is more about manufacturing costs, not about energy density or power density. As such manufacturer prices have been steadily coming down. The Chevy Bolt is the first full EV in the mid/upper thirties with a 200+ mile range. 200+ is considered by multiple organizations as the "holy grail" to solve range anxiety for the average urban consumer. The Tesla Model 3, will soon follow.
Other car companies will soon catch up; then the prices will come down some more....


Tim

 

[Zeldman]

In the United States, as currently produced, ethanol is not a meaningful energy source.

Well that's ok, we wouldn't want to waste good ethanol on cars, would we....

 

[TheGolfPilot]

The infrastructure will come if it becomes properly viable.. but as long as a charge takes longer than 5-10 minutes, or until gas becomes prohibitively expensive you will not see the infrastructure build around it. Anywhere I go that has electric car parking charging it is seems to always be deserted.. therein lies another dilemma, the support for electric charge stations is not self sustaining, IE, it seems that it is mainly fueled by tax incentives, not real profit

A person can buy a barrel of gasoline for one price, and sell it by the gallon at a higher price, and make money. Electricity is different, and the break even is usually decades in the making.. which leaves private ventures into charging stations very limited

BUT, these can all be overcome if that's what the market eventually desires

There are a few reasons those electric car chargers always seem deserted.
#1. If it's a slow charger (40amp or less) it is likely for someone making a short stop and most times it is WAY overpriced. The people putting those in often don't know what a good price for electricity is. A local outdoor mall near me has 12 chargers and they rarely have even one occupied and there will be over two dozen electric cars in the parking lot. They charge .80 per KW... .65 more than PGE.
#2 if it's a fast charger (big box) these are used by people traveling. Charging takes 30 minutes. Since you wake up everyday with ~100+ miles it's rare to use on of these. Those chargers aren't like gas stations where people need to use it every 300 miles. I use a fast charge 1-2 times a month or ~3000 Miles. That charge only takes 30-45 minutes. It shouldn't be occupied all the time. Even though It isn't used everyday. very necessary infrastructure though. If I need to drove 200 miles in a day having one of those chargers makes it doable.

I see airplanes going in the same direction. Most people will plug in their hangar. If someone just goes 1-2 hours around the area they can just plug into the 16-40 amp charger in their hangar and have a full battery everyday. If they need to fly somewhere, each airport will have a 1 or a few DC fast chargers that will reload the plane at 150-500kw per hour. If a kw takes you one mile by plane and you can fly 350 miles then charge for a hour and go another 350 miles on your 500kw battery pack, that would be pretty cool,
Ya, the technology isn't quite there, but it's on the way. Not really going to be totally feasible until there is 500kw/h charging and the ability to store a kw I'm about quarter pound, but that is the future.

 

[John221us]

The power in my hangar barely runs my compressor. There would need to be some infrastructure upgrades.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

The power in my hangar barely runs my compressor. There would need to be some infrastructure upgrades.

There might not need to be too much. You probably have a 15 or 20 amp circuit. Assuming 15, that's good for 12 amps continuous, or about 1.44kW. Not a ton, but if you plug it in when you're done with it and come back to fly it a week later, it might be enough.

People always ask about the cost of installing a high-powered charging station in their garages when talking about electric cars. It's really not necessary in most cases - I plugged my car into a plain old outlet for the first two+ years I had it. Even if I'm only home 12 hours in a day, 12 hours * 1.44 kW = 16.88kWh, good for 60+ miles per day or 21,600 miles per year, which is probably around the 90th percentile for Americans if not higher.

I really enjoy driving a (somewhat) electric car. (I have a Ford Fusion Energi, which has a gas engine I can use when the battery dies, but I try to avoid it - Seems ancient now.) I'm following the electric aircraft developments with interest. There are some advantages to electric propulsion that would be great for airplanes (such as being able to run 100% power at altitude, and do so without causing undue wear on the motor), and certainly a lot of challenges (hard to beat the energy density of fossil fuels). But, where there are challenges, there is innovation and that's fun to watch.