Re:First all-electric seaplane takes flight in B.C.
by fragmede on Wednesday December 11, 2019 @07:57PM
(#21768410)
Pedantically, the batteries do weigh less when depleted. Not enough to make any sort of difference, but E=MC^2. We're talking micrograms for a battery the size used here. Doesn't invalidate the point that electric airplanes can't work effectively with current lithium-poly battery technology though.
It's pretty much a smooth curve, with the breakeven point depending primarily on energy density of your batteries. Until very recently, the electric aircraft weren't possible at all. We're now at the point where two seat trainers with short (but long enough for a typical lesson) endurance are possible and in production. If you look at where battery tech is going, we can probably push that up to 8ish seats and a somewhat longer endurance within a few decades. When you look at the size of even a small regional jet, it doesn't seem likely that current battery tech is ever going to get us to the energy density necessary to make it work.