
Tesla Founder Elon Musk Dreams Of Electric Airplanes - jasonlbaptiste
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/05/tesla-founder-elon-musk-dreams-of-electric-airplanes/
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electromagnetic
Certainly possible. The Tesla Roadster's bodyweight is approximately 1,200 kg,
the current Light-Sport Aircraft regulations (which is equivalent to most
countries Ultralight regulations) put a vehicle with a max take-off weight at
600kg. Ultra-light engines are typically in the 80hp-120hp region, so it
certainly looks plausible.

I'm sure, if you stripped down a Tesla to bare necessities (IE no crash
protection) the weight to horsepower ratio will be even better. So I wouldn't
doubt you'd be able to make a fully electric airplane that is capable of
flying a fair distance. In fact, fuel efficiency in airplanes can be better
than most cars. Again the fuel efficiency can also be affected by the parts
used (obviously li-ion would be the minimum, lead-acid would either weigh too
much or you'd plummet to your death after 5 miles) and thin-film PV cells
could easily be applied to a plane's broad wingspan, however this likely
wouldn't increase the flight distance much (even with 100% efficiency and
optimal conditions, your average ultra-light wingspan wouldn't ever produce
the total power needed for a 80HP/60KW motor).

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stcredzero
What about beamed power? With the power of modern electric motors, freed from
the burden of carrying the batteries or fuel, there would be a tremendous gain
in efficiency.

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jballanc
I'd venture to guess that current battery energy density makes this a far-off
dream. Certainly that could improve, and the idea that battery components
might double as structural components is interesting. Still, one has to wonder
whether it will prove to be greener/faster to develop electric airplanes or to
develop carbon-neutral sources of petroleum-like products (i.e. Fuel from
Bacteria).

