Thank God for high speed rail. It might save our holiday this year.
10
jphamloreApr 21, 2026
Any hope of, I think the Norwegians, developing an all-electric passenger plane?
0
WyciorekApr 21, 2026
+19
Unless there is a revolution in batteries (something like 50x energy density jump, not current small improvements), only small capacity and short range electric planes are possible.
For true long range, let’s say you want to replace A350-1000. It weights 155t dry and takes 134t of fuel. It will burn majority of it during flight and actually can’t even land with full tanks - its max landing weight is 236t. Now let’s try to make this electric - jet fuel energy density is 12kWh/kg, NMC battery is 250Wh/kg. Thats 48x less. Now lets be very generous and say electric is 50% more efficient. So we need up to 134x48x50% = 3216t of fuel. Actually more, since in contrast to jet fuel, plane will not be getting lighter with every km flown.
So we end up with weight equivalent of French La Fayette class frigate … that ain’t gonna fly chief.
19
ruskyandreiApr 21, 2026
+2
Anything can fly once
2
AhelexApr 22, 2026
+1
Yeah, but we haven't researched the art of necromancy to mitigate the consequences of a huge airplane battery fire.
1
O_K_DApr 21, 2026
+3
Only alternative is biofuels or synthetically manufactured fuels. Chemically no battery can have as much energy density per kilogram as a liquid fuel.
3
xylopyrographyApr 21, 2026
+2
Sure, but that density is what allows to use an inefficient airplane and fairly inefficient engines to go 18,000 km.
Replace the 55% engine with one that is 90% efficient, use a more modern plane that has 20% higher efficiency, and use cutting-end batteries with the highest densities (\~500 Wh/kg), and you have about a 1,000 km range.
Every airline knows this and every airline has billions and billions in backorders for electric and hybrid-electric aircraft.
Short-haul aircraft will be fully electrified faster than any other transport sector, as the economics are so strong that anyone not using fully electric aircraft on these routes will go out of business--unless your clients are willing to pay 40% more for tickets on those routes.
2
Mirei_O2Apr 23, 2026
Technically you could go the nuclear route and have plane that could fly for very long periods of time. I don't think I need to explain why it is unlikely to happen any time soon.
8 Comments