Could a battery powered airplane make it across the Atlanti…
Could a battery powered airplane make it across the Atlantic Ocean? Reply with your thoughts on why or why not!
/poll [Yes‚ easily. ,Maybe half way. ,Maybe it could take off. ,Not a chance it could fly]
Replies
Yes, but not one that was of any great size or of any real use. You need to further define "airplane".
Just curious, at what size does it become feasible? You define airplane for this one!
I think the power density and weight of batteries make them unsuited for flight in general. I may be wrong though.
Exactly! It's about the energy density of the fuel. Very good reply!
With current battery tech... however, this is rapidly changing.
Yup we just gotta let batteries catch up to..... glucose. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density
Unmanned with light load - yes. Manned with multiple passengers, no it wouldn't be feasible with our current technology since it would be thousands of km distance and the technology for large electric planes is only to around 500 km range by 2026 I wiki'd
Even unmanned with a light load, current technology would struggle! The energy density of Lithium Ion batteries is only about 0.9 MJ/L whereas for jet fuel that number is 34.7 MJ/L!