Why don't we have many electric airplanes?

I would imagine there would be fewer post crash fires.
 
There's definitely a market for it!

The tesla of airplanes is coming! It would be pretty cool not to wear headphones flying a single. Electric engines are very quiet! AV gas would be forced to lower prices.
 
Answer: because they are as impractical as today's electric cars....except more is at stake when you can't just coast to the side of the road when the juice runs out.

Don't get me wrong: I'd love a quiet, cheap, reliable electric airplane. But I think a magic carpet and a Star Trek Transporter would be super cool, too. I think I'll be waiting awhile for both.
 
The weight to energy ratio isn't there yet.
 
FloridaPilot said:
There's definitely a market for it!

The tesla of airplanes is coming! It would be pretty cool not to wear headphones flying a single. Electric engines are very quiet! AV gas would be forced to lower prices.
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I don't think you'd see Avgas prices drop for a very long time. Its not like every C-172, Archer, and Bonanza since the 50s is gonna swap to an electric engine as soon as they come out if they can even make it legal in those aircraft to begin with.
 
I'm not sure we're ready for that rule to change. Hate to say I side with the (unintentional) FAA rule, but with fuel exhaustion being such a common problem, how wise would it be to introduce electric aircraft that only get about 45 minutes total power today? I think we'll be ready when we see at least two hours.
 
But if we had quiet airplanes, it would be harder to annoy all of the NIMBY types who move next to an airport. I for one would prefer to have a very loud radial that rattles their teeth.
 
PPC1052 said:
The weight to energy ratio isn't there yet.
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Have to agree,science and technology are increasing at a fast rate,I think we are closer than people think,I think the low a slow crowd would be interested ,depending on cost.
 
JeffDG said:
Have you seen what happens to Lithium Ion batteries in the event of an impact? ...
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More or less the same thing happens when they ingest salt water. I once worked on a Navy project that had a lithium battery as part of the system. We would amuse ourselves by commenting within earshot of the battery guy about the batteries "exploding." He would get very upset and remind us that the proper term was "spontaneous disassembly." :)
 
The same evil oil companies that bought up all the 100 mpg carbs in the 70's also bought all the electric plane designs.

C'mon. This is like post 15 and you conspiracy guys haven't posted this yet! Where the heck are you!!!:D
 
I'm guessing it'll take another 10-15 years before we get something suitable/marketable for long distance flight, but they're coming. Battery efficiency is going up and weight is coming down. We're not there yet, but it's a sure bet in my opinion.
 
I fully expect in the next decade or two that somebody will finally roll out a new viable battery technology that will solve the problems of weight, charge time, and lifespan that are holding back electric vehicles of all kinds.

Then it's probably going to take another decade or two for us to bring our utility infrastructure up to snuff.

It will happen though, I'm sure of it. It's just a matter of how long.
 
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