Electrically Powered Ultralight Aircraft

In rec.aviation.piloting Gig 601XL Builder wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net wrote:
wrote:

If you go to http://xtronics.com/reference/energy_density.htm you find
the energy densities of a lot of things.


Propane (liquid) 13,900 Wh/kg
Diesel 13,762 Wh/kg
gasoline 12,200 Wh/kg
Ethanol 7,850 Wh/kg
Methanol 6,400 Wh/kg
Secondary Lithium - ion Polymer 130 - 1200 Wh/kg
Primary Zinc-Air 300 Wh/kg
Lead Acid Battery 25 Wh/kg

So batteries have to improve by a factor of 10 to match gasoline.


Thanks Jim, that is exactly the kind of data I was looking for. It does kind
of show that all this talk of electric airplanes while a nice thought is
something that at best is way in the future.

Well, to be fair, there is solar cell research that if it becomes
practical and cheap enough would work on sail planes with lithium
batteries.

But there is no technology on the horizon for a practical electric 172.

--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.