lee wrote on Jun 24^th, 2018 at 12:13pm:

haha before the Tesla's remember what everyone said about electric cars........ and speed
check out VW's entry this year a pike's peak

lee wrote on Jun 24^th, 2018 at 2:05pm:

https://www.livescience.com/58624-electric-powered-plane-sets-speed-record.html
ohh 337 km's top speed, and they haven't even really started on planes yet. where did u get 50 knots
There r quite a few groups developing EV planes give it a few years and it will happen
Untill then Lee keep dreaming.. its a lovely world out there 

DonDeeHippy wrote on Jun 24^th, 2018 at 2:53pm:


Oh a single seater? Put 'em on the wings, she'll be right.

From your reference -

""Just six such propulsion units would be sufficient to power a typical 19-seat hybrid-electric airplane," Frank Anton, head of "eAircraft" at the Siemens startup unit next47, said in a statement."

"Hybrid-electric aircraft have gas turbine engines which drive electrical generators to power electrically motor driven fans. "

https://tec.ieee.org/newsletter/september-2016/hybrid-electric-aircraft-state-of...

Oh dear. reading just the headlines again.

DonDeeHippy wrote on Jun 24^th, 2018 at 2:53pm:



You do know planes fly at night? When the sun isn't shining and charging the batteries?

Solar Impulse flew around the world in 16 months. 22000 miles = 2mph.

Its top speed was 87mph and cruise 56mph

lee wrote on Jun 24^th, 2018 at 3:07pm:

It's certainly not commercially viable in the current understanding of 'commercially viable'.

But that is government subsidy for ya: economic systems are built around government subsidy and the more entrenched they are the more difficult they become to extract!

TheFunPolice wrote on Jun 24^th, 2018 at 3:11pm:

they will be viable when running costs r lower than Fossil fuel planes. Less parts so less servicing, cheaper refuelling.

lee wrote on Jun 24^th, 2018 at 4:00pm:

the solar panels power the plane during the day and charge a battery to keep the plane going all night. So its a solar panel plane with a night extender battery
Theoretically it could stay in the air indefinitely.

I've been really happy about these new moves to renewable energy and electric power for quite a few years now, but this morning there was a story on the ABC website about thalidomide, and it made me wonder.

Now we've had science invent the coal-fired power station, the internal-combustion engine, asbestos, (a great wonder of technology in 1958), and as mentioned above, there was thalidomide too.

It is all good to stop burning our planet's history to help us get around without needing to walk on two legs like Lucy was so proud of, but after having seen the disasters of 'modern' science from a historical perspective, I am only just beginning to get an ominous sense that the power storage systems which we are currently falling in love with - lithium etc. - may become proliferant in our societies before we learn of their unknown dangers.

I just hope that Norway treads carefully.  After what we have witnessed from the wonders of modern science, we are on thin ice.

PS:  If it helps to ease your worries, it is quite simple to store solar energy in a static location using no other chemicals than H2O.  It would not work on a plane or in a car.  They will need batteries on calm nights, as far as my knowledge can fathom.

DonDeeHippy wrote on Jun 24^th, 2018 at 7:17pm:



And you would say "Elon Musk has a flying saucer; what a great idea".