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Electric Planes are the Next Frontier in Clean Energy Transport
IN BRIEF The future of flight may lie in clean energy being employed to make travel cheaper and safer for the environment. As fuel is the top expense for most airlines, cutting that cost would lead to significant value for consumers. (futurism.com) More...
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Electric-powered aircraft does not mean emissions-free aircraft. In the US, roughly three-fourths of all electric power is generated by fossil-based fuels: natural gas, coal, and petroleum. Depending on where the aircraft is plugged in for the charge, chances are it is simply transferring the source of emissions from the aircraft itself to the source of the electric generation (unless someone has an idea to use only solar, wind, hydro, and/or nuclear power for the recharging). And yes, aside from conquering the battery challenge, someone also will have to figure out how to accelerate the time it takes to recharge the batteries so turn-around times can remain reasonable. In my opinion, it will be a long while before we ever see electric powered aircraft in any significant way.
i can imagine them using solar. Putting solar panels on the top of planes is probably pretty easy to do at this point. Also prop planes can be auto sourced to charge the battery
