Electric airplane ? Are you serious?

[ironglows]

  It sounds far fetched...even some kind of weird dream.  ...But when this guy dreams, things often happen !

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9Qcfii4pc8

    ...But we need much better batteries than we now have!  Yes, and he's on top of that too !

   https://electrek.co/2020/05/07/tesla-patents-battery-cell-elon-musk-hypes-way-more-important-than-it-sounds/

  https://www.azonano.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=4326

[Argent 88]

It's the battery's that are limiting us. All electric vehicle owners are starting to say the mileage they were told is no way near that. Was stop and go and rapid acceleration factored into that number? Or stuck in a traffic jam?
Running an AC? Or a heater? No. Those heaters pull 20 to 30 amps and don't heat worth a crap.
Being told 450 miles, when it sould be amp hours, then on a long Texas back road and low on power is not a good scenario.

[BUGEYE]

Somehow I can't see an electric Boeing 757 putting out 80,000 pounds of thrust on takeoff.

Oh, I don't watch videos on my laptop.  Can't get the sound to work.

[geezerbiker]

Some stupid ideas make the rounds every so often.  Until hydrogen fuel cell technology becomes cheap and common, no electric vehicle will be practical...

Tony

[ironglows]

  Yes, an electric airplane sounds impossible!  ...But then, I can recall when the thought of any human stepping upon the moon, would have been relegated to five centuries into the future...if ever!
   Do you remember when simple problems were solved by a UNIVAC computer, which filled large rooms in scientific labs?

  Just a couple decades ago, a 20" TV screen, had to be on the face of a big box !

[Argent 88]

  Yes, an electric airplane sounds impossible!  ...But then, I can recall when the thought of any human stepping upon the moon, would have been relegated to five centuries into the future...if ever!
   Do you remember when simple problems were solved by a UNIVAC computer, which filled large rooms in scientific labs?

  Just a couple decades ago, a 20" TV screen, had to be on the face of a big box !

If it were to happen that electric aircraft ever came about. It would have to use props, and more than four of them. And any kind of an electric "fan",uses a lot of electricity. Ive seen pics of Air Force prototypes. But usually if it is using props, they are turboprops. Which is basicly a jet engine running a prop. We were using them on our Hawkeyes ,E2B and E2C .

[Graybeard]

An electric plane already exists and has flown across the ocean between Europe and America. In fact I think I recall it flew around the world. I don't recall where all it made stops.

I don't remember a whole lot about it but yes it was a prop plane and had several I think. It wasn't all that practical as it wasn't capable of carrying many passengers or cargo. It was mostly a stunt to prove the viability of the concept.

Best I recall it was in the last 5 years or so it happened.

[Argent 88]

An electric plane already exists and has flown across the ocean between Europe and America. In fact I think I recall it flew around the world. I don't recall where all it made stops.

I don't remember a whole lot about it but yes it was a prop plane and had several I think. It wasn't all that practical as it wasn't capable of carrying many passengers or cargo. It was mostly a stunt to prove the viability of the concept.

Best I recall it was in the last 5 years or so it happened.

Wasnt it that white one with very long wing spans, and had four, or six motors on each wing? I thought it was using solar panels to keep the battery's charged. But it did make it.

[Graybeard]

Sounds right David.

[ironglows]

Bill is correct..as I recall, the prime developer of that plane took off one day with one of his planes and wasn't found for several months or a year.

   I posted a video in the OP, which showed several concepts that have apparently have already run through musk's mind .   Here it is again.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9Qcfii4pc8

[ironglows]

  FOUND IT !

  searched and found the airplane that Bill brought up.. the Rutan voyager..
 https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/rutan-voyager/nasm_A19880548000

  Rutan's pilot, Steve Fosset went missing during a different flight.
  https://www.explorersweb.com/space/news.php?id=16479

[Argent 88]

I read that it hit a storm with very bad turbulence, and barely made it.

[ironglows]

I read that it hit a storm with very bad turbulence, and barely made it.

   Steve Fossett's flight was worse than that.  He was lost in Sept 2007, wasn't located until over a year later..

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Fossett

[BUGEYE]

If GOD had meant for us to fly, we would’ve been born with wings.
The next best thing is jet fuel and lots of it.