Comments by "John Burns" (@johnburns4017) on "Are Electric Planes Possible?" video.

  1. In 2013 the first hybrid plane flew. The propeller was turned by an electric motor. It had a battery bank and rotary (Wankel) engine as an onboard elecyrity generator.  The rotary engine is ideal for this setup, and even better when using hydrogen. The efficiency of a rotary rises greatly when using hydrogen as opposed to gasoline giving greater efficiency than piston engines. There has also been advances in rotary engine technology, like HCCI ignition.  A rotary engine is one third of the weight for the equivalent power output than a piston engine, so ideal for planes. They are also far, far smoother, with fewer moving parts being quite simple. The efficiency rises again when used at its constant speed sweet spot. The rotary can be located in the fuselage giving lighter and cheaper wings with better balance. So, the ingredients are there to have zero emissions over built up areas.  Greater range when the batterey bank is charged on the ground. The hydrogen rotary is a great intermediate eco solution for smaller planes and even smaller airliners.
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  2. Ventus Tavistock complete and utter nonsense. It takes the same amount of electricity to produce gasoline as to power an EV. Refineries take an enormous amount of electricity. One refinery in the UK consumes the equivalent of Leicester and Coventry combined having s direct link to the local power station. EVs charge directly to the power station, eliminating the intermediate electricity used to produce the gasoline. The head of the British National Grid said that the grid needs no more capacity if all cars went over to be EV soon, as the existing is fine.
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  3. There have been breakthroughs in battery technology giving much higher density storage. Not on the market yet as production setup takes time. A plane consumes a lot of energy when taking off. An electric plane can have an electric induction pickup taking electricity from the runway as it rolls to take off. This will preserve the battery charge. Also runways could have ski jumps, like on aircraft carriers to reduce energy used on take off.
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