this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2025
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Havent read the article yet, but I recall reading that with modern battery architecture electric planes were physically impossible. Is this plane not using lithium ion, or was I mistaken? It wasnt an issue of the tech not being ready yet, moreso that lithium ion simply could not achieve an energy density to weight ratio that was needed.
Edit: the article does not say.
Second edit: how far off are we from either not having power storage or only minimal power storage and then we just beam energy to the plane?
I think it is more specifically electric planes as large as commercial airline passenger planes are impossible. It has a lot to do with battery mass to energy content ratio. Kerosine is about 46.4 MJ (megajoules) per kilogram. Lithium-air batteries, for example, only have about 6.12 MJ/kg.
So, that means you need 7 times as much battery (in mass) to have the same energy content of kerosine fuel. Naively, we can maybe say that means electric planes only have 1/6 of the range of an equivalent kerosine plane.[^]
Interestingly, lithium-air batteries theoretically have the largest possible energy density for any battery at 40.1 MJ/kg.
^ The calculations are really basic and probably only slightly reflect reality (since there are many other important factors. For example, Hydrogen has a lot more energy per kilogram than kerosine, but because it is much less dense, it has much less energy per m^3 than kerosine. This has made hydrogen gas very impractical for either internal-combustion engines, or planes), but I think it gives an idea of what the problem is.
There are a lot of other factors. For example, electric motors with propellers are far more efficient than turbofans
A propeller driven airplane will also be substantially slower than a turbofan one, allowing for unswept wings and better aerodynamic efficiency
In reality, battery powered passenger planes aren’t impossible but they will definitely have a shorter range and slower speed. They are realistically only suited for regional routes.
Perfect is the enemy of good. There are so many people at least here in Europe that fly easy-jet/ryanair 1h to 2h flights, these could all still work with propeller planes. But frankly I'm just wondering why I can't get subsidized trains that would be actually affordable. Right now it remains cheaper to drive all alone in my car than get an Eurostar ticket unless I planned it months in advance (spoilers: I can't plan months in advance most of the time with my work).
Agreed. A plane that can do 200ish knots for a few hours could hit a nice sweet spot for a lot of routes
This would be perfect for Norway. Oslo-Trondheim and Oslo-Bergen is consistently among the most trafficked air routes in Europe and the train ride is 7-8 hours. I love trains and use them whenever I can and even though I believe we should get better train infrastructure between the largest cities I also concede the fact that beyond those it's just not practical with trains all the way up north or out to the small coast communities.
Electric planes with a few hundred kilometers reach would suite our domestic travel juuust fine. I might even have started my European interrail trip with a short flight to Oslo or Copenhagen if electric planes where doable and reasonable (in terms of both cost and emissions).