On Fri, 05 Mar 2021 20:56:50 -0800, jfitch wrote:

Comparisons of commercial air transport with self launched gliders are
specious, very different energy use profile. Same with cars vs. self
launched gliders. In either case though, the energy density difference
between 100LL and state-of-the-art batteries is hard to ignore - at
least 30:1 at this moment, and still 10:1 even considering relative
efficiencies. I've no doubt electrics will eventually take over, the
question is only if you buy one now, how early are you in the
development cycle? Once the cycle is mature, there should be a market
for a drop in electric replacement for aging ICE powerplants on popular
gliders.

Has anybody else on here read David Brin's 'Existence'?

It suggests one way to make mass electric-powered air transport work: Put
the pax and cargo in nice accommodation on a large airship and tow it
cross country behind an electric locomotive running on repurposed AmTrak
tracks.

What he describes is an interesting case of "look ma! No batteries!".



--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org