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.
Curious how much fuel would have cost for a comparable flight. Could this make short flights significantly cheaper than they are currently? Or open up the possibility of flying with many short hops in some cases.
If it works you can have a range extender medium size drone at the start and finish for mid air refueling by cable.
@Einskjaldi@lemmy.world
@rimu@piefed.social @HerbGrower@slrpnk.net maybe, but that is complex logistics.
@HerbGrower@slrpnk.net
@rimu@piefed.social pilots are expensive, and airplanes are also expensive to maintain- unless you skip the regular maintenance. This might be a little cheaper, but it still won’t enable short flights for anyone not already rich.
If you skip the plane and go with a drone style you can drop all the complex hydraulics and just have a dead simple electric motor. A large version with a flying wing shape could work well.
@Einskjaldi@lemmy.world
@rimu@piefed.social @HerbGrower@slrpnk.net
Those are vastly less efficient than a wing. They are great for slow speed and pin point accuracy at short range, which rarely matters.
at this point, the obstacles to electrification are not technical, the obstacles are in the white house
And they smell terrible.
@betanumerus@lemmy.ca for short distances that would be better served by a train.
@rimu@piefed.social
you can’t cover the ground with rails. air travel does have uses trains cannot meet.
@betanumerus@lemmy.ca
@rimu@piefed.social I specified short distances. By the take you get to the airport an hour early the train has covered a fairly long distance. Nobody wants to live near an airport as airplanes are inherently noisy, but trains are quiet.
That is not an option for islands or sometimes a train has to go the long way around, due to large bodies of water. Korea - Japan or something like Greece - southern Italy are interesting flights for example.
This is true. Though some areas with harsh terrain will benefit from this
Only poors take trains
i still can’t afford a train cabin
@betanumerus@lemmy.ca
@rimu@piefed.social @fyzzlefry@retrolemmy.com
A train cabin is significantly cheaper than an airplane.
@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
