I suppose next is either electric air transport, or more/better trains? Trains in Norway are really not great.
(Sidenote: Why̱ are they̱ writing their y̱'s like that?)
(Sidenote: Why̱ are they̱ writing their y̱'s like that?)
If you replaced 5500 kilograms of fuel with 5500 kilograms of modern batteries, you would need an improvement in battery efficiency of around 20 times. Batteries increase in small % over decades, not by magnitudes.
Essentially, you would need batteries that store 20 times as much energy as the best technology does now at the same weight and density.
And there's another catch: airplanes burn less fuel as they travel, because burning tons of fuel make them lighter. So it's not really a 1:1 comparison and you likely need more than 20 times to compensate.
There's other catches: cooling such batteries would be an engineering nightmare, but safety would be another concern.
The better name would be "Green" or "Eco-friendly" flight, because "CO2 zero" or "CO2 neutral" is impossible for us yet.
> Rivan’s RNG (renewable natural gas) generator combines 3 core technologies:
1. A calcium-looping DAC system (CO2)
2. An alkaline water electrolyser (H2)
3. A sabatier reactor (CH4)
To produce 99.9% pure synthetic natural gas, which acts as a carbon-neutral drop-in replacement for fossil alternatives.
So there are airplane manufacturers exceedingly interested in battery planes because electric propellers and even potentially some electric air jet engines benefit from wild efficiencies when purely electric, and are safer at high voltage torque demand that batteries can offer more than traditional "hope you can burn enough fuel fast enough for the emergency torque need".
Those battery versus fuel trade-offs are enough that right now we're only seeing those electric efficiencies and safety improvements in the low end (the modern "drone renaissance", and a few select small private/personal plane manufacturers). There probably will need to be a surprise innovation to see it in larger planes and commercial transport, but it's also starting to seem a lot less "impossible" the more small planes that are entirely electric.
I visited last winter. The electric ferries that goes short distances between stops in the Oslo fjord are amazing: it doesn't stink, there's no rumbling racket...