Coin the term ‘eflight’
But still, if the energy comes from coal . . .
It’s official: The day of “The Jetsons” has arrived. According to Bloomberg News, a number of startups from Slovenia to Sweden, Beijing’s China to Sacramento’s California—as well as other states—are looking to electrify air transport. One of them is not Tesla, but that’s an editorial for another day.
Beta Technologies of Santa Cruz’s battery-powered flying object traveled 1,730 miles from Vermont to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The craft, like a drone, has vertical take-off and landing capability. Unlike a drone, it carries people.
Joby Aviation delivered an all-electric air taxi that carried a pilot and four passengers to Edwards Air Force Base in September. Washington-based Eviation Aircraft conducted a test flight of a nine-seat commuter plane it calls Alice for which nearly 300 orders had been received as of 2022.
It’s an industry that may be set for take-off.
The sector is also eyeing hydrogen-powered planes as well as ethanol and other biofuels. But those fuels sometimes experience supply chain bottlenecks. The new tech potentially makes electric flight, with relatively small infrastructure upgrade needs, a more viable short-hop air transport option.
Why would the world jump out of a perfectly good airplane?
There are several reasons; many are environmental in nature. The International Energy Agency estimates that annual carbon emissions from aviation worldwide are roughly the same as Germany’s (800 million tons), not to mention the noise pollution that jumbo jets create vs. the soundless e-planes.
The Red Baron would be envious of an aircraft with such stealth capabilities. And if he flew one, he would be doing his part to mitigate carbon emissions the International Civil Aviation Organization predicts will double from 2015 to 2050.
This creates a business angle—a big one.
A global market of $37.2 billion is projected by the research firm MarketsandMarkets. That’s more than quadruple a 2022 projection of $8.8 billion. Even if the actual number lies somewhere in the middle, it’s a market worth pursuing.
To be clear, the same weight and energy capacity (range) limitations of batteries that plague the auto industry are present in the aviation industry. One obvious way to deal with this is to use electric aircraft on shorter routes.
Also, like the ground transportation industry, the aviation industry is thinking about hybrids. Ampaire Inc., based in Los Angeles, has converted a small Cessna to a hybrid model and cut emissions by 70 percent, according to the company. As for the big guys?
Virgin Atlantic in the U.K. and Japan Airlines in, well, Japan are investing in electric aviation, and so is United Airlines. In June, United announced that San Francisco customers will have a fully electric air taxi service option by 2026, and Air Canada will begin electric aviation service in 2028, using 30 electric planes from Heart Aerospace which have already been purchased.
To be fair, electric aviation is and will still be awaiting its clearance for take-off for a while, but like every other promising technology, it will be here before we know it.
Now then, to the qualifiers— again—anytime a story like this comes out: New electric airplanes aren’t going to help the environment much if all, or even the lion’s share, of the energy it plugs into comes from a coal plant—just as electric cars aren’t going to save the planet if they get their electricity from coal.
Renewables have a long way to go before sun and wind and water can propel humans from San Francisco to Tokyo. If these electric planes are going to really cut a country’s emissions, things need to change.
Which once again brings us to mention the most reliable, safest, environmental-friendly fuel source known to mankind: Nuclear.
The United States—heck, the world—needs more nuclear power. If we had a nuclear plant in the turn of every major river, the electric planes that are supposed to be coming would be a much bigger story.
A world-changing story.