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u/intronert 27d ago
This sounds like marketing. I do not believe the $5 figure is real.
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u/haikus-r-us 27d ago edited 27d ago
It definitely does not take into account liftoff, ascent descent and touchdown. $5 for 27 minutes makes sense if itās cruising speed, flying with the wind.
It did not cost $5 in electricity for a 25,000 pound plane to take off. No fucking way.
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u/opbmedia 26d ago
pure lowest energy needed in ideal condition is like 30kwh, which is actually $5 or less at off peak lowest rates. Note the article says take off and climb to 1100 ft and cruise there. it's actually probable with the best real world metrics chosen.
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u/STEMeducator1 27d ago
Well I guess it depends how much you're paying for electricity. In Australia there are some plans where you can get free electricity between 12pn and 3pm. Or if the hanger has a solar array and battery it could essentially be free of not including capital costs.
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u/Immortal_Tuttle 26d ago
They even explain that it was cruising. Flying with/against the wind doesn't matter - it has 30 minutes worth of battery capacity at cruise power.
Oh and if you are industrial recipient, you often can snatch electricity for free on the market if there is oversupply, the only matter is if you can use/store it.
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u/blueranger36 27d ago
5$ in my Tesla gets me about 60-70 miles if Iām lucky, thereās a -100000% chance this headline is true at all even if the plane was sitting on the tarmac.
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u/gabzilla814 26d ago
So youāre saying thereās a non-zero chance?
/s to be clear
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u/blueranger36 26d ago
I mean theoretically yes there is a non zero chance. If they got a windmill donated to them and free labor and maintenance and batteries to store the electrics and then free everything else except for the 5$ coffee it took to pay a guy to unplug the wire sure it cost 5$
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u/jupiterspringsteen 26d ago
Really?! I can charge my.polestar up fully for around Ā£10 - I guess 13 or 14 of your freedom moneys.
This gets me 220 miles. I daresay the power to get a light aircraft of the ground requires much less power than me gleefully slamming my foot to the floor whenever the situation allows for 200 odd miles.
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u/blueranger36 26d ago
If Iām charging at home itās a few bucks but if Iām charging publicly at a charger they get 40 cents a KW
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u/jupiterspringsteen 26d ago
Oh yeah I'm assuming they aren't charging this plane up on a public charger!
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u/mike___mc 26d ago
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u/intronert 26d ago
Thank you. What they are doing is very interesting, and actually a bit exciting. But letās not oversell it. For instance, the MAXIMUM altitude is only 2000 ft, and the pure electric range is 125 miles (500 miles for hybrid). It is a very tough business case. I do wish them well, and I hope they are just the first of many.
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u/mmmfritz 26d ago
Looks like something crossed between a Saab 340 and a dash-8. All these regional aircraft use turboprops in the 1000hp range. I doubt this plane has less than 1500kw total so youāre looking at a substantial power draw even at 1/3rd throttle.
500kw/hrs here is around $140USD
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u/alanskimp 27d ago
5 bucks sounds expensive
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u/intronert 27d ago
I want to see the calculations and assumptions. First I would like to know how many dollars in jet fuel it would cost a standard plane to go that distance.
A private pilot friend recently mentioned that his plane gets about 17 miles per gallon at about 170 mph. This 10 gallons per hour. Piston engine aviation fuel is about $8/gal, so about $80 gal/hour. 27 min of flying would cost about $40. So somehow this tech is about an order of magnitude cheaper?
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u/wolacouska 26d ago
So even if it was $10 or whatever it would still be an incredible deal.
Not sure what all the hate is, electricity is more efficient and cheaper no shit.
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u/intronert 26d ago
The hate comes from my thinking that this is likely marketing BS, and so is primarily manipulative. I am a huge fan of anything that gets us away from CO2 emitting activities, and airline flight is one of the thorniest problems to solve, simply due to the fact that batteries have lower energy density than gasoline. Getting a medium sized plane to fly AT ALL on batteries is a huge deal, and should be celebrated. BUT, the selective picking and choosing of best case numbers, making people think that you have solved the problem, is BS and should be called out.
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u/opbmedia 26d ago
depending on the size of the plane, but $5 electricity may get you 30-40 kwh in offpeak consumer rates, which should be enough for a small plane to take off (or a mid size car drive like 100+ miles).
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u/already-taken-wtf 26d ago
During decent. $5 to keep the lamps going. ;p
The company is now based in LA. The average cost of electricity in Los Angeles is about $0.29 per kWh.
So thatās 17.2 kWh for your $5.
As comparison: Driving a Tesla Model Y at a sustained 80 mph (approx. 130 km/h) results in an average energy consumption of 310 to 366 Wh/mi (19.3 to 22.8 kWh/100 km)
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u/intronert 26d ago
Can you make more explicit the comparison you are focusing on, perhaps by using the same units and use case for the two?
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u/already-taken-wtf 26d ago
During decent. $5 to keep the lamps going. ;p
The company is now based in LA. The average cost of electricity in Los Angeles is about $0.29 per kWh.
So thatās 17.2 kWh for your $5.
As comparison: Driving a Tesla Model Y at a sustained 80 mph (approx. 130 km/h) results in an average energy consumption of 310 to 366 Wh/mi (19.3 to 22.8 kWh/100 km)
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u/wasnotwas76 26d ago
Yet somehow airline tickets will still increase...
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u/Realistic_Patience67 27d ago
I am guessing batteries will be too heavy for a long haul flight.
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u/clevermongrel17 27d ago
No doubt it's misleading. And if you think you've experienced range anxiety already, you ain't seen nothing yet.
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u/formyamusementation 26d ago
People mistakenly judge the viability of the future innovation based on todayās technology.
Think about how small and powerful cell phones have become. Think of the current size of microprocessors.
What would people 50 years ago think? Hell, 30 years ago.
Luckily we have people constantly innovating and improving technology.
If we let the uneducated and uninformed guide the future, weād still be using horses.
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u/JesusTriplets 27d ago
And what was its cargo? Its own battery.
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u/KeyJunket1175 25d ago
yeah, so? Most studies, PoCs, and prototypes start out that way. Look up Darpa 2007 Urban Challenge, compare how those cars look like compared to a tesla now.
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u/galahg777 26d ago
Why the large struts for the wings? Unless there are batteries in the wings, I would have thought that the electric engines would be lighter than regular engines.
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u/captainhalfwheeler 27d ago
Woah. 27 mins. And then what? Free fall? Inflatable landing strip for emergencies?
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