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Siemens and Airbus To Push Electric Aviation Engines (networkworld.com)
coondoggie quotes a report from Networkworld: Siemens and Airbus teamed up today to develop electric and hybrid electric/combustion engines for commercial and private aircraft. The companies said they would amass a joint development team of about 200 employees that would jointly develop prototypes for various propulsion systems with power classes ranging from a few 100 kilowatts up to 10 and more megawatts, for short, local trips with aircraft below 100 seats, helicopters or unmanned aircraft up to classic short and medium-range flights. Hybrid-electric propulsion systems can significantly reduce fuel consumption of aircraft and reduce noise. European emissions targets aim for a 75% reduction of CO2 emissions by 2050. These ambitious goals cannot be achieved by conventional technologies, the companies stated. Airbus has developed a 2-seat electrically powered aircraft, known as the E-Fan. Siemens too has been developing an electric aircraft engine.
You nailed it. IDIOTS are pushing this. Void of any comprehension of engineering realities.
There is a REASON why hybrid cars give benefits. IC automotive engines are HEAVY. Adding two intermediate conversion steps (mechanical -> electrical, then electrical back to mechanical) does not add a crippling amount of weight. And the IC engines in straight-IC cars operate at abominably inefficient settings. Most of the time that 250 hp engine is putting out not over 25 hp, and it has ghastly thermal efficiency at 10% power. In a hybrid, you can arrange it so the engine is operating either not at all (batteries filling in), or at an efficient cruise power setting (charging the batteries AND running the car, whether purely mechanically or mechanical->electric->mechanical does not make a huge difference in efficiency under these conditions).
Aircraft are completely different beasts. Their IC engines are much lighter in kg/kW (lb/hp) than are automotive engines, which is a good thing because they have to be vastly more powerful. And they operate all the time at pretty much the optimum efficiency setting. A little higher on takeoff but only for a very brief time, and around 75% of full power during cruise. Never at 10%. There is no efficiency gain from going hybrid, and there is a crippling weight penalty from the batteries, and a not at all inconsiderable weight penalty from the mechanical->electric and electric->mechanical steps.