Timeline for Could an electric airliner be aerotowed to cruise altitude by an electric "tug" aircraft?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 19, 2018 at 0:00 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackAviation/status/1075179125374107648 | ||
| Dec 18, 2018 at 7:06 | answer | added | Peter Kämpf | timeline score: 2 | |
| Dec 17, 2018 at 18:53 | comment | added | CrossRoads | And another, Zunum Aero, proposing hybrid to start and full electric in the 2020s "Did you know that short-haul flights produce over 40% of aviation emissions? With our aircraft, we believe these will be largely eliminated within twenty years. Our aircraft are “hybrid-to-electrics” that sip fuel only when they have to, will use even less over time as batteries upgrade, and will one day go completely without — so that flying will be kind to the Earth." zunum.aero/#About-us | |
| Dec 17, 2018 at 18:20 | comment | added | CrossRoads | Have you seen this recent article discussing plans by Boeing, Airbus, and others for short haul all-electric planes? techcrunch.com/2018/07/08/the-electric-aircraft-is-taking-off I just wonder - what is the fuel source to make all the electricity to charge the batteries? There are losses in making the electricity, losses in charging the batteries, losses in efficiency in cooling the motors, etc. | |
| Dec 17, 2018 at 17:22 | comment | added | Tony Cooke | Thanks Ron but the idea is not to use less energy, much less get something free, but to potentially have zero-carbon airliners. | |
| Dec 17, 2018 at 17:12 | comment | added | Sophie Swett | An alternative would be to have the "tug" give power to the airliner through an electric cable, rather than towing it. Either way, I think this is a really interesting idea; I look forward to seeing the responses. | |
| Dec 17, 2018 at 17:05 | review | Close votes | |||
| Dec 17, 2018 at 18:12 | |||||
| Dec 17, 2018 at 16:34 | comment | added | Ron Beyer | At this point in technology, I think it would take more fuel/energy to "tow" the aircraft to altitude than it would to just burn the fossil fuel necessary to do so, meaning the batteries in the tow aircraft have to be recharged from something, nothing is free. The power/density of fossil fuel is still unmatched in the battery world. | |
| Dec 17, 2018 at 16:30 | review | First posts | |||
| Dec 17, 2018 at 16:56 | |||||
| Dec 17, 2018 at 16:26 | history | asked | Tony Cooke | CC BY-SA 4.0 |