How soon will electric planes be practical?

[sikhanegi]

Hi all!

First timer on this sub. Sorry if this is one of those questions you get at least once a day. I googled this but the answers I found were very inconsistent.

A guy I know keeps saying passenger planes with electric engines will very soon be reality. Planes would be at least ATR-72 size and could fly distances up to 500 miles and possibly even more. He has been saying this for some time now.

I have not heard this from other sources than him. Granted, I don't follow aviation news that much and may have missed a thing or two.

What do you think: will electric passenger planes replace old ones soon, kinda soon, not long time from now or maybe some day?

 

[Houndpup Rc]

Hi all!

First timer on this sub. Sorry if this is one of those questions you get at least once a day. I googled this but the answers I found were very inconsistent.

A guy I know keeps saying passenger planes with electric engines will very soon be reality. Planes would be at least ATR-72 size and could fly distances up to 500 miles and possibly even more. He has been saying this for some time now.

I have not heard this from other sources than him. Granted, I don't follow aviation news that much and may have missed a thing or two.

What do you think: will electric passenger planes replace old ones soon, kinda soon, not long time from now or maybe some day?

I have actually been seeing a couple videos on this and I think it may occur on some planes in the near future, but i don't know if fuel driven planes will ever be replaced...(Especially ones like the Boeing 777)

 

[LitterBug]

There are a handful of small private size planes already flying, but not for long range. The biggest problems are the energy density of batteries does not match the fuel it will replace, and the weight does not reduce in flight as the energy is consumed. Planes often take off heavy knowing the plane will be considerably lighter at the destination due to fuel consumption.

 

[Merv]

...What do you think: will electric passenger planes replace old ones soon, kinda soon, not long time from now or maybe some dayday?

Maybe someday, but no time soon.
I agree with LB, our current battery tech is just not up to the task for wide spread adoption.

Current batteries are barley practical for cars. EV's are quickly reaching a market saturation for what is practical with current batteries. If the EV market is going to grow significantly, we'll need much better batteries. Ones that can charge much faster & handle the cold much better than today's.

 

[Mr NCT]

Perhaps when these reach production

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[Piotrsko]

If you build something the size of a C130, you might get a couple hundred miles range with maybe some payload. only with different chemistry cells that are more energy dense than lion thus more prone to catastrophic failure. Considered bad juju to have your transport explode. Recall the 1950's promise of nuclear powered everything never needing refueling. Yuppa just jump into your MR FUSION car....

 

[bisco]

i agree that if you repeat something over and over, some will start to believe it

 

[quorneng]

Unfortunately basic physics is against electric planes ever rivalling liquid fuel power for long distance flight.
For a hydrocarbon fuel about half the weight of the combustion energy comes from the oxygen the engine draws in from the atmosphere. With electric the full 100% of the energy has to carried in the battery. Electric flight maybe good for the atmosphere but it has a penalty that becomes prohibitive regardless of how efficiently the electrical energy is converted into thrust.
In addition on long distance flights where the fuel weight may exceed the weight of the planes payload the consequences of a mishap are already likely catastrophic. The consequence of having to carrying twice as much energy all "bottled up" inside an electric plane cannot be ignored.

There is an argument that sooner or later to save the planet's atmosphere the world will have to abandon mass long distance flight. Ultimately even things like cruise ships that really serve no purpose other than human enjoyment might be too environmentally damaging.

On that cheerful note have a Happy Christmas!

 

[MadMonkey]

Maybe someday, but no time soon.

Yep. We'll need big jumps in battery technology before anything more than a 2-4 seater is really viable. Definitely nothing like an ATR for years... and that's just waiting for the technology, much less the design, testing, certification, finding customers, and production.

It'll probably happen eventually for short regional flights (there's an electric Caravan, but I don't know if it's flown with a payload equivalent to passengers yet).

It's telling that the longest flying electric multirotors I've worked with still have a gas generator 🤪 And for mil drones running 8-16 hour missions... still fuel.

 

[Houndpup Rc]

I wonder if nucular power with electric motors could ever be a reality.....

 

[MadMonkey]

I wonder if nucular power with electric motors could ever be a reality.....

Do you want a nuclear power plant flying over your house every day? 😬

(honestly we screwed ourselves badly for decades being scared of nuclear power)

 

[Houndpup Rc]

Do you want a nuclear power plant flying over your house every day? 😬

(honestly we screwed ourselves badly for decades being scared of nuclear power)

That's the one thought I had.....But if could isolate it really good and prevent it from doing anything in a crash.....I know very little about nuclear!🤣

 

[Foamforce]

Getting the plane up in the air takes a lot of the energy. They could extend the range a lot by implementing catapults at airports. 😀

 

[MadMonkey]

Getting the plane up in the air takes a lot of the energy. They could extend the range a lot by implementing catapults at airports. 😀

NUCLEAR ELECTROMAGNETIC FLEET YEETER! 🤠

(sorry my brain is fried today and I'm in a dumb mood 🤣)

 

[LitterBug]

Dilithium crystals and warp drive.... For The Win!

 

[Merv]

Don't forget about the flux capacitor.

 

[quorneng]

As far as I am aware the only light weight nuclear plant ever put in plane was in a B36. Although the reactor was potentially big enough to power a plane it did go "critical" but did not power anything. To be light enough even for a B36 to lift it had virtually all its shielding removed. This required substantial lead shielding to be added for the cockpit.
I think it only flew a few times and then over the Nevada desert for safety. The nuclear reactor was removed and the B36 scrapped with some parts of it likely buried in the what are politely termed "nuclear land fill" sites.

Nuclear power stations only made sense in the UK when the majority of the electrical power came from coal powered stations. Such deep coal mines in the UK were labour intensive and dangerous. At peak nuclear achieved 20% of the national supply but with the advent of cheap North Sea gas & oil it made new nuclear stations too expensive to build. The existing nuclear plants were simply left to run for their design lives.
It is really only the potential interruption of wind and solar that makes new nuclear power viable but only when its enormous building cost is compared to the potential costs of interruptions to the nations supply.

As you might have guessed I worked in the nuclear power industry for nearly 20 years.

 

[Bricks]

Nuclear power is changing with the advent of modular nuclear reactors, cost effective, faster assembly, 80-100 year life span possible and standardized implementation.