The energy used to achieve altitude is then saved in the descent stage. So that’s not an issue for aircraft, regardless of how they’re powered. This is why every flight you’ve ever been on climbs to cruise altitude as fast as possible.
High altitude where the air is less dense is better for speed due to less drag. This is also power source agnostic.
yes, but current battery energy density is nowhere near fuel ATM, and evs operate differently. Gas engines use fuel/hour as a function of RPMS, independant on the load on the engine. EVs use battery juice as a function of the load.
When you size a gas engine for a plane, you design around the power needed to takeoff on a given runway, which is fine because in cruise, you will throttle down and use less fuel.
When you design an electric vehicle, if you design it the same way, you end up carrying effectively dead battery weight, which also affects power consumption during cruise (you either go faster, or use use more wing, which creates more induced drag).
IF you design it for cruise, you end up being horribly inefficient at takeoff.
The only 2 solutions are
1. 10 mile long runway where you can take your time accelerating, to reduce the torque requirement on the motor. You would basically limit the current draw and the plane would accelerate slowly, and eventually you get to cruise speed
2. Changing your flight profile, where you get to high altitude ASAP where you can be more efficient,
Even Ryanair turnarounds take like 30 minutes. A bit more than that and you can charge the plane comfortably. Fueling bigger planes is quite the ceremony.
Making the battery replaceable by heavy equipment would drop the turnaround time for these. The planes fly regular routes (mostly), and could store a few extra batteries at their regular destinations.
Odd added benefit: the potential ability to jettison a huge part of the weight in extreme emergencies to increase flying time by the backup ICE system.
Yeah, aren’t the EV tyre’s compounded differently in some way to account for the extra weight?
If the weight on each wheel is greater I’d have assumed the tyre would need to be harder, for the same performance.
I would have assumed that would counter the otherwise additional wear, but I keep hearing EV tyre pollution is higher and yet everyone who owns one has always said they aren’t changing tyres an more than they did on their combustion cars.
Given that tires have a range of warranties from 40,000 miles to 80,000 miles ... it's possible that the tires are wearing 25% faster but the consumers aren't noticing because it's still around the normal 40k-80k mile range.
No matter the warranty - I still notice when I replace them.
And the warranty requires proof of periodic rotation. If the tires are wearing evenly, as is the likely case for a new vehicle, then rotation costs significantly more than the pro-rated rebate.
High altitude where the air is less dense is better for speed due to less drag. This is also power source agnostic.