It reminded me of Tesla's evolution, where they found a niche where they can apply the benefits of electrics and rethink some basic elements of the platform most notably in the double propellers.
I've been flying electric powered high performance model airplanes (mostly F5B class) for decades. I'd like to think the electric r/c flight industry has been trenching this territory for quite some time. With the next 2x improvement in battery energy density cars and possibly full scale planes are going to make a huge leap forward.
Here's a video of F5B class R/C planes. It's hard to convey just how insanely fast these things are. Huge power to weight ratio and very aerodynamically efficient.
You can hear the crowd gasping at the performance they see. Also note that the motor is only turned on for a second or less at at time. If the motor were on longer these planes would reach 1,500 feet in 5 to 10 seconds tops.
Fully Charged is an interesting show but the more I watched it I found it draining how Robert Llewellyn would put down all non-electric vehicles on every episode; almost every breath. I agree electric vehicles are great but even jokingly complaining about gas engines all the time gets annoying pretty quick.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1g1JrRRkY
It reminded me of Tesla's evolution, where they found a niche where they can apply the benefits of electrics and rethink some basic elements of the platform most notably in the double propellers.