# Electric Airplane Trainer



## Rover (Jul 26, 2022)




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## Devil's Advocate (Jul 27, 2022)

That is interesting as a prototype but unlikely to see wide commercial adoption in my opinion. There are a lot of restrictions to putting electric aircraft into routine commercial service but I think there are a couple designs that can create a revenue sustainable service. The first option are short hop propeller aircraft that can charge at the gate while being service between flights. This design is in progress today and will hopefully prove viable. The second option is a bit more radical. If solid state lithium panels could be built into a laminar flow fuselage you could potentially replace small business aircraft for long range travel. 



Anything larger than a small business aircraft is unlikely to be viable for battery powered flight in the next few decades. That is why companies like Airbus are banking on renewable-derived fuels like hydrogen as an intermediate solution. On the other side of the pond Boeing has stated that they are working on an electronic prototype that will include an undocumented ECAS option that uses a single sensor to monitor battery levels and attempts to "land" the plane before power can be exhausted. Southwest Airlines has signed up to be the launch customer of the Electric Collision Augmentation System.


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