chris pochari Posted April 8, 2017 Report Share Posted April 8, 2017 There's been a lot of talk recently about electric airplanes and possibly also rotorcraft and I was wondering if you guys think it's total bogus or potentially viable?I've heard that lithium ion batteries have less energy density that newspaper! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobie Posted April 8, 2017 Report Share Posted April 8, 2017 One factor for electric flight is the battery weight stays the same, charged or discharged. Conventional fuel is burned off during flight effectively getting a bit more flight time due to lighter aircraft. Doubt we will see this for a while. But when every house has solar and battery banks, then the tech may be getting close. I feel much of this is proof of concept to obtain research grants. Turbines are quite the perfect engine for thrust v weight. Hard to replace in the near future. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astro Posted April 8, 2017 Report Share Posted April 8, 2017 http://helicopterforum.verticalreference.com/topic/19886-energizer-bunny-meets-r44/ Sorry I don't know what type of battery they used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pochari Posted April 9, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2017 One factor for electric flight is the battery weight stays the same, charged or discharged. Conventional fuel is burned off during flight effectively getting a bit more flight time due to lighter aircraft. Doubt we will see this for a while. But when every house has solar and battery banks, then the tech may be getting close. I feel much of this is proof of concept to obtain research grants. Turbines are quite the perfect engine for thrust v weight. Hard to replace in the near future.Great point Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avbug Posted April 9, 2017 Report Share Posted April 9, 2017 I've heard that lithium ion batteries have less energy density that newspaper! Is that a comparison for when the lithium ion batteries catch fire? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pochari Posted April 9, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2017 Is that a comparison for when the lithium ion batteries catch fire?Well I guess what they mean't is that if you convert volts to BTU you can burn newspaper and get more BTU per amount of mass than Lithium.I did some math and found that JET A has 550 BTU/per cubic inch and lithium ion has 30 BTU/cubic inch. One gallon is 231 cubic inches.So considering that most turboshaft engines have a power/weight ratio of 4:1 it doesn't seem that lithium ion will amount to anything.So for lithium ion to work they would need to increase the energy density by 520 times!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avbug Posted April 9, 2017 Report Share Posted April 9, 2017 My point was that lithium batteries in aircraft are a touchstone point, even as cargo. They catch fire and they are dangerous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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