The Airbus E-Fan Could Mean Much Cheaper Flights In The Future
Airbus Group
Airbus’s E-Fan 2.0 is the world’s first plane to have fully electric propulsion and represents a major breakthrough in the aviation industry.
Since the cost of fuel drives the prices of flying commercially up, developing a commercial electric passenger plane could result in much cheaper flights.
In fact, Inhabit reports a flight on “E-fan could cost only $16, compared to $55 for a flight in a petrol-powered plane of the same size.”
Airbus’s goal at the moment is to have a prototype electric passenger plane by 2030 but there are many challenges, much more so than developing electric cars.
Chief Technology Officer Jean Botti told Smithsonian.com, “It’s not like a car, where you get 1.2 or 1.5 kilowatts per kilo(gram) and make a car run for an OK distance. The problem we have in aeronautics is gravity; you have to get up to seven to 10 kilowatts per kilo(gram).”
Further of battery technologies within electric planes will be key to the success of a commercial electric plane.
Technology, engineering, and design enthusiast.
Tech Steel & Materials