Re:London-Paris electric flight 'in decade'
by fab13n on Wednesday March 22, 2017 @12:17PM
(#13932150)
> The thought of a Li fire on board an aircraft is something that would keep me awake nights.
Whereas you wouldn't think twice about jet fuel fires, because you're used to it rather than because fuel isn't a fire hazard :-)
Re:London-Paris electric flight 'in decade'
by ams6110 on Wednesday March 22, 2017 @12:28PM
(#13932250)
Jet fuel isn't very flammable unless it's atomized or vaporized, something which only happens in the engine. And it's pretty straightforward to extinguish an engine fire, and all aircraft engines have systems to do this.
Re:London-Paris electric flight 'in decade'
by walshemj on Wednesday March 22, 2017 @12:34PM
(#13932327)
And extinguishing a metal fire is not trivial
Re:London-Paris electric flight 'in decade'
by JumpCrisscross on Wednesday March 22, 2017 @12:29PM
(#13932260)
Doubly surprising given the fear is expressed in a thread specifically about the 50x energy-density differential between jet fuel and Li-on batteries.
I'd guess that anybody wanting to put Li technology batteries aboard aircraft is likely to spend the next 10 years jumping through regulatory hoops, so unless rechargeable battery technology is "ready to deploy" right now on aircraft, I don't see any way this is happening within a decade.