Passenger electric aircraft may become a reality in the next decade
Researchers have found a way to make passenger planes run on 100% electricity. According to aviation startup Elysian, which developed the project concept together with Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, a new electric plane called the E9X can now hold more passengers and fly further than previously thought.
These new planes will be able to seat 90 people and fly up to 500 miles without having to stop for recharging, Reynard de Vries, co-founder of Elysian and aerospace engineering researcher at Delft University of Technology, told ABC News. Prior to this project, industry experts believed that electric-powered air travel would be limited to small planes - planes that can accommodate a maximum of 20 passengers and fly less than 200 miles without having to land, Yahoo news writes.
The main problem is the huge weight of the electric battery
According to Mukhopadhyay, the huge weight of the electric battery is the main limitation for these aircraft. Commercial batteries currently in production store about 50 times less energy per pound than traditional jet fuel. It would take about 35 tons of batteries to power an airplane the size of a Boeing 737, Jayant Mukhopadhaya, a senior researcher at the International Council for Clean Transportation (ICCT), told ABC News.
Instead of trying to electrify a modern propeller aircraft, Elysian looked at first-generation aircraft that were designed for very long distances, De Vries said.
"If you really design a large battery-powered passenger airplane, you can fly further than a small electric airplane if you take into account the design features," De Vries said.
The wing is extremely large in relation to the body of the aircraft, especially when compared to conventional aircraft. But the large wing allows for increased aerodynamic efficiency, De Vries said. Engineers also added sophisticated wingtips to ensure that the large wing can fit into existing gate infrastructure.
According to Mukhopadhyay, the aircraft also had to be large enough to accommodate the number of batteries needed to transport 90 people.
While small battery-powered aircraft have already appeared on the market, the technology has not yet been applied to the large aircraft that will be needed to carry large numbers of passengers and keep prices low compared to other modes of transportation, De Vries said.
"If you want electric airplanes to become widespread in the future, you need them to be cost competitive with other modes of transportation, other ways of flying," he said.
Elysian expects these aircraft to be in service by 2033. De Vries did not say how much it would cost to build and operate the planes, but it could significantly reduce the carbon footprint of flights.
Aircraft fuel from recycled vegetable oil
Other sectors of the industry are also looking for ways to make air travel greener. In November, Virgin Atlantic became the first airline to fly a transatlantic flight using 100% clean jet fuel, a low-carbon energy source made from non-oil feedstocks that has properties similar to conventional aviation fuel but with a smaller carbon footprint.
The Boeing 787 passenger jet, dubbed Flight 100, flew from London's Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport using fuel made from a mixture of mostly recycled vegetable oil and animal fat waste. On board were Virgin Atlantic's founder, billionaire Richard Branson, Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss and UK Transport Minister Mark Harper.
