It’s just a question of the energy density of batteries vs. fuel. We need a couple more battery breakthroughs before we get a fully electric commercial airliner.
Lighter planes are more efficient, and most airliners are not designed to land with their tanks full. They have a option to jettison their fuel in case of emergency.
It means that just matching the energy density of fuel is not enough, batteries must exceed it. Jet engines are also quite efficient: around 40% now, and it may reach up to 60% in the future. It means that the more efficient electric engine is less of an advantage compared to cars for example.
The only battery technology that seems viable in order to replace fuel would be lithium-air. Petrol is just too good at storing energy.
Right now, I'd say the only chance for a "zero-emission" plane would be using biofuels.
Flow batteries can and open cycle fuel cells do; electric isn't just the kind of batteries that retain reaction products.
Right, but they can be thrown overboard :-)
That might work for disposable rockets launched from the south Pacific, but it does not work for a reusable aircraft flying over populated continents.
Then you just need a fleet of smaller planes to carry those drones.
You climb out to cruise altitude - then drop off the "climb battery" which would autonomously return to your takeoff point (somewhere nearby where if can easily/safely land, be retrieved, and recharged for the next flight). You'd cruise to your destination on the "cruise battery", which you'd jettison near the landing point, so it could fly itself there for charging. You'd land with just the "landing battery" which'd have sufficient capacity for go-arounds and/or diversions, just like your fuel reserve in a conventional dinosaur-burning aircraft.
Dropping batteries off and moving the remaining ones around while maintaining safe centre of gravity might be tricker than just pumping liquid fuel around, but surely not insurmountable (the military seem to be able to jettison stunning weights of munitions while flying...) Perhaps youd got for batteries divided into six spread equally for and aft from the cog - and drop them in matched pairs?
(Not that I'd want to be hurtling at the ground barely in control with many tons of fully charged LiPo battery on board either...)
The issue is the brakes overheating and the impact on the landing gear.
[0] https://www.amevoice.com/blog/1058/airbus-a340-fuel-system-d...
Aircraft have been doing that forever. Carefully managing the fuel flow from which tank has always been a task for the pilot.
The Luftwaffe never figured out that they could have trashed the P-51s if they caught them early enough.
These days, that tank has been replaced by a passenger seat so you can get a joyride on a P51.
For short-haul flights, this matters a lot less.
Your criticism is similar to what many people said about electric cars and electric trucks. Well, surprise, commercial short-range cars and trucks became viable before longer-range cars and trucks.
yeah we can build them but looking back twenty years from now should be really interesting
Plus, they sound like pod racers from the future.