Electric aeroplanes

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Pontius Navigator
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Re: Electric aeroplanes

#21 Post by Pontius Navigator »

RiS, whilst both BP and RDS are both developing new energy strands, the P stands for petroleum not power.
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Re: Electric aeroplanes

#22 Post by G-CPTN »

Whilst (from my childhood) nuclear power seemed 'infinite' and the prospect of hypersonic aircraft was the stuff of comicbooks,
what propulsion system would be used?
'Nuclear' is a fuel which possesses energy.
Any fuel must have its energy converted into a 'mechanism' that generates thrust.
Uranium on its own needs to be converted into heat whivh, in turn must 'turn' something that creates a (physical) reaction.
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Re: Electric aeroplanes

#23 Post by Rwy in Sight »

I don't disagree on that point. However Hellenic Petroleum a state company offers already charging points on their fossil fuel station. Not massively but you get the idea.
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Re: Electric aeroplanes

#24 Post by G-CPTN »

Petroleum-supplying companies would be foolish to ignore the advent of electric-powered vehicles and their needs.
BP to acquire the UK’s largest electric vehicle charging company
Chargemaster is the operator of the UK’s largest EV charging network and the leading supplier of EV charging infrastructure.
Acquisition is an important step in scaling up and deploying a fast and ultra-fast charging network on BP’s UK forecourts.
Chargemaster to be rebranded BP Chargemaster.
BP invests in PowerShare, one of China’s leading electric vehicle charging platforms
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Re: Electric aeroplanes

#25 Post by Undried Plum »

Big Oil is keen to push for adoption of hydrogen because it is grossly inefficient and consumes colossal quantities of hydrocarbons in its production.

The "Beyond Petroleum" marketing gimmick was mostly for the Murricane market where the "British" moniker is not seen as a good selling point, particularly at government level. Better than "Anglo Iranian" I suppose, but best to drop the "British" part of the BP brand altogether in the US.
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Re: Electric aeroplanes

#26 Post by Slasher »

This looks a bit hopeful! :)


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Re: Electric aeroplanes

#27 Post by PHXPhlyer »

Alice, the first all-electric passenger airplane, prepares to fly

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/31/tech/ali ... index.html

New York (CNN Business)The world's first all-electric passenger aircraft is preparing to take flight.

The Alice, a plane developed by Israeli company Eviation, went through engine testing last week at Arlington Municipal Airport north of Seattle. According to Eviation CEO Omer Bar-Yohay, the Alice is just weeks away from its first flight.
With battery technology similar to that of an electric car or a cell phone and 30 minutes of charging, the nine-passenger Alice will be able to fly for one hour, and about 440 nautical miles. The plane has a max cruise speed of 250 kts, or 287 miles per hour. For reference, a Boeing 737 has a max cruise speed of 588 miles per hour. The company, focused exclusively on electric air travel, hopes that electric planes that can fit 20 to 40 passengers will be a reality in seven to 10 years.

A prototype of the aircraft, which debuted in 2019, has been going through low-speed taxi tests since December and will attempt a high-speed taxi test in the next few weeks. In these tests, the aircraft is sent down the runway at different speeds to test its own power and allow ground teams to monitor systems like steering, braking and anti-skid. Though the company initially aimed for the Alice to take flight before 2022, poor weather conditions in the Pacific Northwest at the end of the year hindered testing.
Eviation has developed three versions of the prototype: a "commuter" variant, an executive version, and one specialized for cargo. The commuter configuration in testing holds nine passengers and two pilots, as well as 850 pounds of cargo. The executive design has six passenger seats for a more spacious flight, and the cargo plane holds 450 cubic feet of volume.
All of this is possible while reducing maintenance and operating costs of commercial jets by up to 70% , according to the company.
The electric aviation space is already growing more crowded with both startups and established aviation companies. NASA gave $253 million in September 2021 to GE Aviation and magniX to bring the technology to US fleets by 2035. Boeing is investing $450 million in Wisk Aero, a company building an all-electric, autonomous, passenger aircraft, and Airbus has been working on its own electric aviation endeavors since 2010.
According to industry experts, the largest obstacle for electric aviation becoming the norm in passenger jets is the battery.
"The stumbling block is the battery technology just like with cars, but more so in airplanes. This is because with airplanes, the concern is the weight," said Ross Aimer, CEO of Aero Consulting Experts. "As soon as we have better battery technology, which I suspect will be in two or three years, that's when all these electric airplanes will eventually come."
Twelve Alices are on order by international shipping company DHL, anticipated to be delivered in 2024. These planes, out of DHL Express's global fleet of more than 280 aircraft, are set to be used as cargo carriers making shorter distance trips. "Our aspiration is to make a substantial contribution in reducing our carbon footprint, and these advancements in fleet and technology will go a long way in achieving further carbon reductions," said Mike Parra, CEO of DHL Express America, in an interview with CNN Business.
Eviation has announced purchases of its proposed fleet by DHL and commuter airline CapeAir and says there are several more to be announced once Alice's first flight occurs. CapeAir's proposed fleet of Alices are expected to enter service in 2023 on routes connecting Boston, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and Hyannis.

While we seem to be getting closer to battery-powered air travel for some functions, not everything is nearly ready to go. Cross-ocean flights and jumbo jets are still years beyond the current science, for one. But the most pressing concern for electric aviation is regulation. The FAA has yet to put forward any clear guidelines or regulatory framework for electric airplanes, which fall under the category of Advanced Air Mobility, though Eviation says its is actively working with the FAA to achieve certification for production by 2024. "Some certifications could require the FAA to issue special conditions or additional airworthiness criteria, depending on the type of project. Determining qualifications for these aircraft is an ongoing process," according to an FAA spokesperson.
Electric aviation proponents predict Alice and electric planes like it becoming as commonplace as any other means of transportation. "It really integrates aviation into the fabric of transportation, of our commuter life. It does so while being sustainable, and through being economically viable," said Bar-Yohay. "Once we start seeing planes like this, the entire way we look at where we live, how we commute, how we go on vacation, will change. It will be a high-speed train without the rail."
But electric aircraft big enough to rival large passenger jets may still be a ways off.
"The first step would be to try these in a commuter market or charter market," said Aimer. "Then eventually, if that works well, you're going to have passenger jets. For that we need Boeing or Airbus to come out with a actual electric airplane. I would see that in about 10 years."

Just have to hope that rest of the project does better than their time, speed, and distance projections. :-o :-? :))

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Re: Electric aeroplanes

#28 Post by PHXPhlyer »

World’s first electric plane start up parts ways with CEO in mysterious rift

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/17/tech/evi ... index.html

Eviation, the company behind what is supposed to be the world’s first all-electric passenger airplane, has undergone an unexpected change in leadership just before the plane’s projected first flight – and the company and the now-former CEO are offering different takes on the situation.

Eviation, an Israel-based company, has said it plans three versions of its all-electric plane: a “commuter” variant holding nine passengers and two pilots, an executive version holding six passengers, and one specialized for cargo. The company has said the nine-passenger version, which it calls “Alice,” will be able to fly for one hour and about 440 nautical miles after 30 minutes of charging.

Eviation initially aimed for the Alice to take flight before 2022, but said poor weather conditions in the Pacific Northwest at the end of the year had hindered testing. The Alice has been undergoing several taxi tests since late 2021, and last month then-CEO Omer Bar-Yohay told CNN Business that its first flight was “just weeks away.” Bar-Yohay did not mention an impending CEO shift at that time.

On Monday, Bar-Yohay, who was also a co-founder of Eviation, left the company after seven years, and he was replaced by interim CEO and current Eviation president Gregory Davis. The company says the change is part of a “planned succession process” as Eviation shifts from planning to production of the Alice, according to a statement. An executive search process is underway to fill the CEO position long-term, it said.

But Bar-Yohay said that while it is time for a new direction, his departure is the result of a dispute within the company.

“This is definitely part of a natural progression. It is time for the company to turn a corner and really transition from proving our prototype to manufacturing,” Bar-Yohay told CNN Business. “That said, there is a long-standing disagreement about how and what exactly does the company need to do going forward, and that created some friction between myself and the main shareholder of the company.”

Bar-Yohay declined to answer questions as to the nature of the disagreement. While Bar-Yohay said the change is not a big shock, he had not been aware of how and when it would be announced.

Eviation’s main shareholder is Richard Chandler, the New Zealand-born billionaire owner of the Clermont Group. The Singapore-based Clermont Group includes MagniX, Eviation’s sister company and propulsion provider. Just last month, Eviation executive chairman and MagniX CEO Roei Ganzarski stepped down from both roles. “I do believe some of the underlying reasons [for our departures] are similar,” Bar-Yohay said. “There was no way to make this go any differently.” The Clermont Group has not responded to multiple requests for comment.

Though Ganzarski has not commented on the reasons behind his own departure from both companies, he made the announcement last month “with a heavy heart,” according to a post on his LinkedIn. “I have no doubt that the future of aviation is electric. It has to be for the sake of our children and grandchildren. It is no longer a question of if, but only when and who. I leave magniX and Eviation positioned to continue their leadership in this field.”

Ganzarski did not comment when asked if his exit was due to the same circumstances Bar-Yohay describes. “Omer did a tremendous job building a leading aerospace company and phenomenal aircraft with very limited resources,” Ganzarski told CNN Business when asked about the leadership change. “I am very proud of what he and his team did.”

Bar-Yohay will remain involved with Eviation as a board member and investor moving forward, he has said.

This plane must have Warp Drive. :-o

Previous article stated cruise speed of 250 Kts.
:-?

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Re: Electric aeroplanes

#29 Post by AtomKraft »

Why not just use 100LL or Jet A1?
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Re: Electric aeroplanes

#30 Post by ExSp33db1rd »

Absolutely. I still have the Tee shirt " I LOVE the smell of jet fuel in the morning "
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Re: Electric aeroplanes

#31 Post by PHXPhlyer »

Alice, the first all-electric passenger airplane, takes flight

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/27/tech/evi ... index.html

The world’s first all-electric passenger aircraft has successfully taken to the sky.

Israeli company Eviation Aircraft successfully launched the Alice on Tuesday morning from Washington’s Grant County International Airport. The zero-emission plane traveled at an altitude of 3,500 feet for its eight-minute inaugural flight.

“This is history,” Gregory Davis, Eviation’s president and CEO, told CNN Business.”We have not seen the propulsion technology change on the aircraft since we went from the piston engine to the turbine engine. It was the 1950s that was the last time you saw an entirely new technology like this come together.”

With battery technology similar to that of an electric car or a cell phone and 30 minutes of charging, the nine-passenger Alice will be able to fly for one hour, and about 440 nautical miles. The plane has a max cruise speed of 250 knots, or 287 miles per hour. For reference, a Boeing 737 has a max cruise speed of 588 miles per hour.

Eviation was founded in 2015 and has been pushing the Alice forward ever since. The company hopes to use the information gathered during Tuesday’s flight to review next steps and deliver aircrafts to customers by 2027 — though Eviation warns that plan is subject to change.

“We’ve actually generated, frankly, terabytes of data with the data acquisition systems that we had on the aircraft, so we’re going to take a couple of weeks actually and review it to see how the aircraft performs versus our models and our analysis,” Davis said. “From there, we’ll understand what we need to do next.”

The company says it expects to be working on developing an FAA-certified aircraft through 2025, followed by a year or two of flight testing before it can deliver Alices to customers.

Three different versions of the Alice are in protoype stages: a “commuter” variant, an executive version, and one specialized for cargo. The commuter configuration holds nine passengers and two pilots, as well as 850 pounds of cargo. The executive design has six passenger seats for a more spacious flight, and the cargo plane holds 450 cubic feet of volume.

But the Alice’s journey toward take-off has not been without issue. Plagued with delays, the Alice was originally expected to fly in 2021. Eviation faced executive turnover and a series of weather issues that hindered testing progress, pushing back take-off dates and announced fleet launches by years. Commuter airline CapeAir expected to put a fleet into service by 2023, serving routes across Boston and Cape Cod, but the purchased Alices have faced delay. DHL and Miami-based air charter company GlobalX have also announced plans to buy the plane.

Anyone see any problem with their math? :-?

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Re: Electric aeroplanes

#32 Post by PHXPhlyer »

Just saw an ad featuring this company and aircraft, sponsored, I think, by DHL.

https://www.eviation.com/

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Re: Electric aeroplanes

#33 Post by ricardian »

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Re: Electric aeroplanes

#34 Post by Ex-Ascot »

Can it stay airborne on 50% of its power units?

How long to parachute down from 30,000'? The smaller aircraft descend at 1,700 fpm. This would make it 17.6 mins. But, at higher altitudes I would expect it to descend faster. Guess the chute is not steerable. You could land anywhere!
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