An electric Dash-8 equivalent with 20-40 seats would be a game changer on regional routes.
The engines are the highest maintenance and cost items in aircraft. Electric motors should* drastically reduce that. Regional/small use routes are often on razor thin margins, anything to improve those margins will be taken on board very quickly.
*Perhaps battery maintenance replaces that cost with a rough equivalent, I don’t know
That’s also empty weight on the Learjet, gross weight is higher. This one is presumably that weight with the batteries so I suspect is smaller. Wish there were more details.
Don’t private jets contribute a significant amount of carbon emissions? I remember seeing headlines about how much pollution was being created from Taylor Swift’s non-stop private jet usage. Wouldn’t this tech help at least reduce that kind of pollution?
The carbon comes from the fuel. Burning a ton of jet fuel will release the same amount of carbon regardless of the plane that burns it.
Taylor Swift’s plane is a Dassault Falcon 7X. It weighs around 17 tons and seats 12 to 16 passengers.
Her plane burns 60% less fuel than a 737 MAX 8. However, her plane holds 9% of the passengers of the MAX 8, so its far less efficient per passenger than typical commercial aircraft.
Private planes are not a huge contributor to carbon emissions in comparison to others. They’re bad, obviously. But there are far more commercial airplanes, and they fly much more frequently than private jets.
Private jets get people’s attention. One person being directly responsible for that much carbon is notable is unconscionable. But it’s the scale of transportation overall that is the issue.
Wow, I didn’t realize we’re so inefficient compared to large commercial jets. 60% of the fuel for 9% of the passenger capacity? And I’m guessing most private jets aren’t even at full capacity, probably just a few passengers per flight. If 2 billionaires flying their jets create as much pollution as a full commercial jet, then eliminating their emissions seems like a win to me.
Your original post seems pretty skeptical of the EV plane tech because they are smaller planes. To me it seems like a reasonable way to start - smaller machines and probably easier to sell. And it targets a very fuel inefficient sector. Is there any reason to believe they won’t be able to scale up to full commercial passenger jet sizes?
The plane in the article is a 4 ton airplane, they mention plans to make an 8 ton commercial aircraft.
The Learjet 31 is 4.4 tons. It seats 8 passengers. The Cessna CitationJet CJ3+ is right around 4 tons with a maximum of 9 passengers.
The future 8 ton aircraft is around the size of the 10-ton Dash 8 Q200 with a maximum of 40 seats.
There are commercial uses for aircraft this small, but these jets are significantly smaller than most commercial aircraft.
An electric Dash-8 equivalent with 20-40 seats would be a game changer on regional routes.
The engines are the highest maintenance and cost items in aircraft. Electric motors should* drastically reduce that. Regional/small use routes are often on razor thin margins, anything to improve those margins will be taken on board very quickly.
*Perhaps battery maintenance replaces that cost with a rough equivalent, I don’t know
That’s also empty weight on the Learjet, gross weight is higher. This one is presumably that weight with the batteries so I suspect is smaller. Wish there were more details.
All the weights listed were operating empty weight. The battery planes will be even smaller than the planes I listed for comparison.
Weights of planes vary in flight, so I picked the one that disadvantages the point I’m trying to make in the interest of fairness.
Don’t private jets contribute a significant amount of carbon emissions? I remember seeing headlines about how much pollution was being created from Taylor Swift’s non-stop private jet usage. Wouldn’t this tech help at least reduce that kind of pollution?
The carbon comes from the fuel. Burning a ton of jet fuel will release the same amount of carbon regardless of the plane that burns it.
Taylor Swift’s plane is a Dassault Falcon 7X. It weighs around 17 tons and seats 12 to 16 passengers.
Her plane burns 60% less fuel than a 737 MAX 8. However, her plane holds 9% of the passengers of the MAX 8, so its far less efficient per passenger than typical commercial aircraft.
Private planes are not a huge contributor to carbon emissions in comparison to others. They’re bad, obviously. But there are far more commercial airplanes, and they fly much more frequently than private jets.
Private jets get people’s attention. One person being directly responsible for that much carbon is notable is unconscionable. But it’s the scale of transportation overall that is the issue.
Wow, I didn’t realize we’re so inefficient compared to large commercial jets. 60% of the fuel for 9% of the passenger capacity? And I’m guessing most private jets aren’t even at full capacity, probably just a few passengers per flight. If 2 billionaires flying their jets create as much pollution as a full commercial jet, then eliminating their emissions seems like a win to me.
Your original post seems pretty skeptical of the EV plane tech because they are smaller planes. To me it seems like a reasonable way to start - smaller machines and probably easier to sell. And it targets a very fuel inefficient sector. Is there any reason to believe they won’t be able to scale up to full commercial passenger jet sizes?
So, small aircraft with very low emissions and running costs? We best get used to being shovelled out of airports like cattle
I think that’s a good thing, especially concerning domestic flights.