Tesla Roadster technology applied to airplanes?
I posted this to the pprune.org:
I just saw some awesome looking videos of the Tesla Roadster :
Supposedly it runs 250 miles on lithium ion batteries, that it takes just 3.5 hours to recharge it. And that it has a faster acceleration than any Ferrari or other fast car using gas.
See the videos here.
And so I am wondering if this usage of lots and lots of small Lithium Ion batteries could work in an airplane?
Supposedly the Tesla Roadster is safe since if one lithium ion cell explodes that it doesn’t affect the batteries around it, thus there is no explosion possible with this system. Would there be some way one could just get a jet airplane sufficient amount of those lithium ion batteries in there and get the sufficient thrust to the engine to lift an A380 or any type of short or long range airplane?
I don’t really think it is constructive to question Global Warming. It’s a fact. And saying that the air industry only is responsible for 2% of the CO2 emissions is not a solution to anything.
The fact is each passenger on an airplane pollutes much more than if that person had stayed at home with the heating on and driving a car around to work and the groceries. That only a small percentage of the population of the developped countries yet fly on airplanes and with the development of developping countries and advancement of everyone’s living standards then many more people will want to travel on airplanes.
If Ryanair is investing some hundreds of millions in buying new airplanes, and that other low cost european airlines are doing the same type of investments. Why aren’t they doing everything they can to have those future airplanes be flying on renewable 0% CO2 emitting energy. There is hydrogen, batteries, biofuels, where is the R&D? Where are the prototypes flying? Where are the BBC documentaries about investments that airlines are doing in clean airplane technologies? Where are the facts about possibillity for clean airplanes? When do politicians force airlines (as well as car manufacturers, housing, agriculture, manufacture..) to move towards clean fuel technologies?
I want to see the concept planes, the prototypes, the proof of R&D activities, the tax incentives on companies having clean energy investments, the BBC documentaries about positive developments by the industry to solve the energy and climate crisis.
Here’s a reply I posted in the thread:
So is the energy effeciency of batteries from the Tesla Roadster 1:10 , 1:20 or is it more like 1:2 of that of kerozene? Is it just a question of range, or is it a question of the batteries simply being too heavy for any range of flight? I was thinking, maybe we could use the kind of planes that currently fly trans-atlantic, A380 or 747 size airplane, fill them with batteries and possibly more powerfull engine because of the heavy batteries, and use those very large electric airplanes just for short range flights? Could Ryanair buy lots of electric A380 airplanes filled with batteries for just with enough range for doing the intra-european flights?
Now here’s another electric car which sounds to me having impressive performance:
The ZAP-X:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/30/zap-to-power-electric-version-of-lotus-apx-crossover-concept/
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/01/30/no-tesla-cuv-but-zap-will-build-the-lotus-apx-with-batteries/
Range: 350 miles
Recharge time: 10 minutes using special 480volt fast recharging technology by Eco-Tech
Horsepower: 655hp
Top speed: 155mph
This quick recharging time really would be awesome, I wonder though if 10 minutes is for a full recharge. That would mean one could recharge at stations on long trips.
Now electricity can be made in very clean ways. Solar, Wind, Waves, Nuclear, clean coal, more. So I don’t buy any of the arguments saying that it pollutes as much to drive an electric car as a gasoline car.
Wind farms should be built effeciently so they can provide energy for lots of years. Making them not only very clean for the environment but also a very wise investment. I’ve seen documentaries about farmers in Germany installing wind farms on their land and earning back on their investment already after just 4 years of use.
We could turn Middle-eastern and African nations into Hydrogen producing nations using lots of solar panels. Transporting the Hydrogen around the world on similar tankers as current oil tankers. To up the capacity, just add more solar panels in the desert, effeciently built as wind mills they require very little maintenance.
Now do I understand also correctly from comments in this thread, that Ethanol might have 1:2 the fuel effeciency of Kerozene? Does that just affect the range of the flight? How about biodiesel? I would say, that as long as there are suffecient farming land that can be turned into Cellulosic Ethanol or Biodiesel production, in ways that doesn’t harm the ground, and that would be a great way to occupy the farmers that currently are receiving EU subsidies for not doing farming that is required by the european economy.
If Ethanol or Biodiesel just is a matter of range, then where can we find the prototypes of Jet airplanes that are compatible with Ethanol?
I don’t think that the overpopulation is a problem as long as we implement clean and sustainable energy. Cause physically there is space for many more people on this planet. Just look around you, there probably is space for at least 10 times more people at that place where you are and you would probably all have enough space to move around and do whatever you want. Now if we get 10 times more airplanes in the next 10 years, because so many more people will want to travel, and it’s going to be affordable for so many more people thanks to low cost airlines, I’m hoping to see some clues of R&D, prototypes, test flights, politics and the airline industry seriously showing that also airplanes can become clean for the environment.
Comment by Charbax — February 2, 2007 @ 6:56 am
re: Your mussings on electric flight. Thought you may enjoy this. I saw the prototype at the Experimental Aircraft
Association airshow in Oshkosh Wisconsin (USA) These guys are on the right track.
http://aeroconversions.com/e-flight/
Comment by William (Bill) Larso — December 11, 2007 @ 3:37 pm