The X1 aircraft is comparable in size to a small regional airliner and can achieve a maximum takeoff weight exceeding 25,000 pounds with the help of four wing-mounted electric motors. The battery-electric propulsion system delivered more than one megawatt of power during the maiden flight.

    • bluGill@fedia.io
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      1 day ago

      @fyzzlefry@retrolemmy.com only in places with terrible trains. Rich people the world over take trains when they are good. A lot of the rich in places like NYC or Tokyo take trains. Of course the rich have options, some so show off with limos and the like, but when they want to blend in the train works.

      @rimu@piefed.social @betanumerus@lemmy.ca

      • budget_biochemist@slrpnk.net
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        16 hours ago

        In London people moan about public transport being awful, but plenty of rich people and celebrities take the train anyway. There was a newspaper article a few years ago about a court case that finished and both parties and their lawyers and the judge all ran into each other at the train station again.

      • bluGill@fedia.io
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        1 day ago

        @betanumerus@lemmy.ca

        @rimu@piefed.social @fyzzlefry@retrolemmy.com

        A train cabin is significantly cheaper than an airplane.

        • igmelonh@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          14 hours ago

          For me personally, not including the travel to Chicago, it would be 225USD for a less than 5 hour flight from Chicago to Seattle, while the smallest cabin (“roomette”) on an Amtrak would cost 1400USD and take over 46 hours. Even the coach is 280USD.

          Edit: I’m seeing the bit about short trips now; I thought that the comment I was replying to was about travel in general. Chicago to Detroit would only be 35USD for ~6h on Amtrak coach (no cabin offered), flight price would be the same as Chicago-Seattle. Train would be cheaper in this case, though without a cabin.

          • bluGill@fedia.io
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            14 hours ago

            @igmelonh@lemmy.blahaj.zone

            @rimu@piefed.social @betanumerus@lemmy.ca @fyzzlefry@retrolemmy.com compare Amtrak pulling your personal car vs owning a personal train.

            Though Chicago to Seattle is a long distance trip where flying beats the train even with ideal service. If you were asking about going to indianapolis instead the train should be both cheaper and faster That it isn’t is a reflection on how bad Amtrak is not trains in general.