alt Hacker News> This is awesome. Lighter motors also make electric flight more viable
The next innovation we need is Aerial refueling[1] for electric planes. High density swappable batteries and high altitude wind/solar plants that can swap batteries mid air. Perhaps some billionaire will develop a large fleet of these to service all flights! If no western billionaires, we just have to wait for China to develop this tech.
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Apologies for the turbulence, we're just flying through a thunderstorm to top up the batteries
Or laser power beaming from a satellite, or a ground station.
Not very feasible, but an option that has been thought through.
I guess there’s a system that’s gated to track dependent technologies, to track improvements and what they’ll enable.
Surely it would be easier to recharge rather than swap batteries? I wonder if in the future war will be like a turn based strategy game as everyone wait for drones to recharge before making a move.
A sufficiently compact electric motor enables mounting it in the nose-wheel of commercial aircraft, allowing it to be driven around like a golf cart. This means the plane can taxi without the use of its engines, just the power from the APU. [1]
Also planes would not have to wait for a tug to pull back from the gate, which improves turnaround times for the airline.
[1] https://www.wheeltug.com/