Electric airplanes will be next

On Nov 2, 12:56*am, wrote:
Jim Logajan wrote:
Orval Fairbairn wrote:
In article ,
(Edward A. Falk) wrote:

In article ,
wrote:

A tank full of gas doesn't get hot because it is being used but
batteries do.

A friend of mine pointed out that although gasoline needs to have
oxygen added before it can burn, a battery already contains
everything it needs to explode.

I really, really want to see electric batteries come of age, but
gasoline has set the bar very high in terms of safety and energy
density.

This feature of batteries also explains why they will NEVER compete
with air/fuel engines!

You have to carry a complete supply of BOTH chemicals required to make
them work, rather than just one (fuel).

Actually that's not strictly true - a class of batteries called fuel cells
could (actually already can) utilize the oxygen in air. Instead of
generating heat when the chemical reaction occurs, the released energy can
be converted mostly to electrical power.

Ironically, the fuel for fuel cell batteries that doesn't require any new
costly infrastructure is gasoline. Some work has been done on gasoline fuel
cells; so far as I can see the advantages over heat engines are that they
theoretically can be mechanically simpler and operate at a higher
efficiency.

Mechanically simpler doesn't mean a whole lot since the invention of
NC machining and the realizable efficiency of a fuel cell in a vehicle
isn't that much better than that of a modern piston engine.

If the world actually ever ran out of oil as the chicken little's predict,
fuel cells run on natural gas could be a practical alternative, but then
again so would a conventional piston engine run on natural gas.

All of which is a bit moot as the Obama administration cut off funding for
vehicle fuel cells in favor of batteries.

--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.

If there was profit on the horizon it would not take gvmt money, of
course. Anyone waiting for battery operated GA airplanes before
getting his or her certificate is apt to wait a long time. I was about
to suggest someone has his head in the clouds, but that could start a
different thread/