The future of electric aircraft

Along with the development prospects of electric vehicles, the future of electric aircraft is entirely conceivable, with superior advantages over conventional aircraft: environmentally friendly, quiet, high-performance. .

The first remarkable point of electric aircraft is that the engine is much more efficient, reliable and quieter than the existing internal combustion engines. These characteristics can bring a revolution in the way we still travel in the sky, especially if engineers solve some small technical problems.

The Chairman of the Organization for the Effectiveness of Airline Flight (CAFE), the independent flight testing agency, Brien Seeley, said: 'Electric motors are three to four times better than combustion engine in controlling aircraft propulsion equipment. Its reliability is 10 - 20 times higher than conventional piston engines'.

Electric aircraft has many advantages: no environmental pollution, no big noise, extremely high fuel efficiency.

Meanwhile, the internal combustion engine only has an efficiency of 18-23%, because the rest is converted into thermal energy, the electric motor has a high efficiency (95%). This means that the manufacturer does not need to design air cooling systems as for internal combustion engines, a major problem to be solved by aircraft.

In addition, thanks to high efficiency, electric machines will be less noisy than conventional aircraft. As a result, it can be used in secret military campaigns. Seeley said: 'Many military partners have made clear investments to develop non-electric vehicles'.

In addition, it is used in civilian transport, when many areas, people want to travel by plane without wanting to disturb the surrounding people.

An advantage of electric aircraft, like electric cars, is that they are environmentally friendly because they do not emit CO ₂ like regular aircraft. Air quality has been greatly reduced because of dust and smoke, global climate changes, so it is necessary to prioritize green vehicles.

"Heel of Asin" of electric aircraft

The most important current weakness of electric aircraft is the battery life. Technically, electric aircraft need light weight to be easy to take off, but with batteries, it needs a large amount to be able to power it. Therefore, engineers and materials scientists have been experimenting for electric aircraft with extremely light designs and materials.

Seeley said: 'We are looking forward to designs with a 70: 1 lift-drop ratio, to minimize the amount of fuel needed as well as structural engineering with ultra-light carbon materials. Our goal is to reach the most advanced battery capacity so that the aircraft can travel about 160-320 km / flight . "

Installing solar cells on an airplane wing can be a solution to overcome the aircraft's Asin heel in terms of battery life and flight time.

Nanosolar, based in San Jose (California, USA) is testing a series of aircraft equipped with solar panels on the wings. This makes it possible for the aircraft to recharge itself during flight or when landing.

Seeley also said that with technological breakthroughs, especially in the nano field, the battery capacity limits will increase significantly. However, he did not expect all aircraft to switch to electric motors. Especially in the field of military fighters, still heavily dependent on rocket engines to ensure mobility, long-term flight capabilities with many passengers .

Completely possible

Seeley believes in the open future of electric aircraft with its advantages, especially suitable for journeys that are less than or equal to 400 km.

He explained: 'Let us consider the current means for journeys under 400 km. For ordinary cars, the problem is the high traffic congestion, especially in densely populated areas. As for aircraft, do you need a vehicle with speeds up to 840 km / h for 400 km and overlook many opportunities to see many things along the road. Therefore, electric aircraft is the ideal choice, with reasonable speed, about 240 km / h '.

Besides, the advantages of electric aircraft are promoted: because it does not cause much noise, the landing stations can build near destinations; ability to take off in a short time.

Boeing prototype.Electric aircraft will be the vehicle of the future.

Worldwide, there are many projects deployed with electric aircraft. Yunecc has just built a factory on an area of ​​78 km2 in China to build an electric aircraft manufacturing plant.

The future of electric aircraft will not be far away, along with the participation of the most advanced technologies, to solve the battery technical factors, transport capacity, materials .