Ampaire Electric EEL Airplane C337

[Scudrunner]

I think hybrids like this are the most practical evolution for electric planes.

Neat to see



https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/12/ ... in-hawaii/

[vanNostrum]

''The electric power unit reduces fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions from the hybrid plane by about 40 to 50%, according to Ampaire.''

They don't seem to mention the cost of recharging the batteries or how long it takes
Batteries with the capacity to power the 165 Kwh electric motor
will require at least twice that amount of energy to be fully charged, considering the loses of the
batteries,charger and motor
Ironically, this airplane is flown in Hawaii where the price of electricity [ green]
is 3 times more expensive than the average US mainland
I doubt this airplane is cheaper to operate than the original,maybe some savings on maintenance
but sure to be offset by the cost of replacing the batteries
Hope they have a good safety system to disconnect the electrical in case of an accident
Not sure if I would be comfortable seating on top of such powerful batteries

[Liquid_Charlie]

Ironically, this airplane is flown in Hawaii where the price of electricity [ green]

This "green" electrical power is a crock of shit, classic example of blowing smoke. The Germans got it right and places like Denmark continue to pay for the green dream.

The Germans went with NUKs and it's much cleaner and safer than a big honking windmill farm, let alone being 60% cheaper. It's a no brainer to me.

I pissed my pants when all the paranoia around irradiated food. I guess people prefer to get botulism, fuck me, some people are are just stupid and can't process simple facts.

I know people with hybrid cars and they are just false economy. Electric drives will come to be but the battery tech is the still far from making it viable, especially if you are a bit of a road warrior and go than more than 20 miles from home.

For small commuter aircraft, well with short turns, would it work???

[vanNostrum]

For small commuter aircraft, well with short turns, would it work???

A big enough rubber band should work too and, as an added bonus,
have the pilot in waiting wind up the system
I suppose for short flights electric planes could work but dont forget
by wight gasoline has more than 100 times the energy of a lithium-ion battery
Don't know what happened to the Harbour Air e-Caravan

As much as Germans claim to their greenness, 20% of their electricity
is generated by coal

At 1PM today,Ontario's demand for electricity was 17.485 MW
Solar,wind and bio accounted for less than 3% of the total generated dropping to
almost nothing at night
This is after an ''investment'' of more than $ B150 over 30 yrs and a %250 increase in the cost of electricity
But,if this buys votes from cultist environmentalists,the naive uninformed, and ,makes you
and your friends very very rich, is all good

[Liquid_Charlie]

As much as Germans claim to their greenness, 20% of their electricity

Indeed but they are moving more towards nucleolar power instead of the other options.

Stats say that nuc is the safest and the cleanest. Why are people so shit scared of it. I might think fake news and stupid people. What else creates a shit show these days.

[Slick Goodlin]

I’m still not convinced that hybrid electric has a viable use case in aviation. In cars, a single trip has many cycles of forced deceleration (traffic, stop signs, etc.) where the otherwise wasted energy of braking is captured to augment the next acceleration. I can’t think of any times that happens when flying; even a descent is seldom done with any sort of braking, certainly nowhere near as aggressive enough as would be required for any sort of regeneration.

[Colonel]

even a descent is seldom done with any sort of braking

My normal solo descent is 3,000 FPM with the throttle all the way back
and the prop full fine. Any time the prop is driving the engine, you could
regen.



And I'm a candy ass. A Tucker/Cabanas/Stewart approach is full throttle
and Vne to short final, then throttle all the way back and decelerate so hard
on the prop, your chest is thrown forward into the shoulder harnesses. Touch
the mains down on the numbers at 120 MPH and tail up down the runway.

Fixed pitch props provide very little thrust and drag. Constant speed props
provide plenty of thrust and drag. Like a divorce, they are expensive but
worth it.

I can see turboprops getting a slam-dunk from the friendly ATC, riding the
props down, might get some regen.

[Slick Goodlin]

I understand all that, but...

getting a slam-dunk from the friendly ATC, riding the
props down, might get some regen.

...enough regen to justify the weight and complexity of a hybrid system? I remain sceptical. Seems to me there has to be a thousand better ways to reduce fuel burn that don’t have government-funding buzzwords.

[Colonel]

Hang on, hang on.

Government funding has to make sense?

[Scudrunner]

The French got it right 70%+ of their power comes from nukes.

Back when the Arabs decided oil was too cheap the French said Sacrebleu then took a long drag from their cigarettes, gulp a few bottles of wine and got to work.

One may hack on the french for many things but this is something they got right!

Don't build on fault lines in Tsunami prone areas and if you do don't put the back up diesel generators for the cooling pumps in said Tsunami's path.
Oh and if your Russian maybe just don't be Russian about such things and you should be fine.

Good thing Cretien sold the CANDU's to China, they would have stole them anyway so might as well get some money out of the deal.

As for electric planes if they can make a small turbine power two electric motors that would burn less fuel then a direct drive turbine, then you got a winner in my opinion.