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Norway Tests Tiny Electric Plane, Sees Passenger Flights by 2025 (reuters.com)
Norway tested a two-seater electric plane on Monday and predicted a start to passenger flights by 2025 if new aviation technologies match a green shift that has made Norwegians the world's top buyers of electric cars. From a report: Transport Minister Ketil Solvik-Olsen and Dag Falk-Petersen, head of state-run Avinor which runs most of Norway's airports, took a few minutes' flight around Oslo airport in an Alpha Electro G2 plane, built by Pipistrel in Slovenia. "This is ... a first example that we are moving fast forward" toward greener aviation, Solvik-Olsen told Reuters. "We do have to make sure it is safe - people won't fly if they don't trust it." He said plane makers such as Boeing and Airbus were developing electric aircraft and that battery prices were tumbling, making it feasible to reach a government goal of making all domestic flights in Norway electric by 2040.
He said plane makers such as Boeing and Airbus were developing electric aircraft and that battery prices were tumbling, making it feasible to reach a government goal of making all domestic flights in Norway electric by 2040.
Battery prices aren't the big problem. Battery weight is the problem when it comes to aviation. Even the best battery tech we have today has a rather poor power to weight ratio. I see no evidence in this article that they have solved that problem since that would require a breakthrough in power density for batteries.
Note that the plane they show has a takeoff weight of 570kg which allows for basically no cargo or passengers. For comparison the EMPTY weight of a Cessna 170 is an almost identical 573kg and it has a takeoff weight of 864-1000kg.
Errrm, no. Let me introduce you to coffin corner,
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik...