Uncovering the engineering of the world’s first electric plane to fly passengers on a regular route
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- Опубліковано 4 лип 2024
- This is Heart ES-30, the electric plane which is to become the world’s first to fly passengers on a regular route.
No other plane has advanced so far in its engineering to be able to operate regular commercial flights, so that intrigued me to find out if its creators have managed to overcome the crucial challenges that have prevented us to see electric planes in operation until now and that still retain other engineers in developing only very small electric planes.
I have asked Heart Aerospace some deeper questions, and received some deeper answers, that allowed me to have a more complete picture of its engineering in this video. - Наука та технологія
Typical journalism on electric planes is always so speculative because the journalist does not have an engineering background, but with your video I can appreciate some good old common sense and ability to estimate shining through. Well done!
Thank you for your appreciation!
Exactly, journalists cannot go indepth into any new tech and explain like this!
Li-ion battery left below the fuselage is a disaster waiting to happen in case of battery fire.
What is your impression on the engineering of Heart ES-30 and on electric planes in general?
Battery electric in commercial airliners of the size of Boeing 737 / Airbus A320 is never going to work. Journos don't realise the power requirements, in industrial form modern gas turbines produce over 25000 shaft hp. Just think how big the battery will need to be to replace the two gas turbines fitted to modern airliners. Another unappreciated fact is that the airliners weight drops from the time it pushes back from the stand as fuel is burned. A battery pack will weigh the same at landing as on take off.
I suppose battery swapping at airports would be a better solution for quick turnaround of planes
Yes, certainly, however this solution has greater risks of sparks, therefore none of the electric UAVs I know of, has a quick battery pack exchange routine.
(1) In drones, it is common to see take-off and landing using electricity generated by gasoline-powered auxiliary generators. Since this aircraft has 2 APUs, why not use them to generate the extra power demand for takeoff and climb?
(2) I believe that the use of batteries is a temporary solution, until the technology of generating electricity through hydrogen cells is more mature.
Sorry but a 737 APU is 90kw each main engine is the equivalent thrust of about 40 MW . A small aircraft would have a much smaller electrical demand so the power output of the APU would be minimal compared to the main engines. Storage of hydrogen in aircraft is tricky involving cryogenic refuelling. NH3 might be a better option as this can be liquified at reasonable pressures and would burn fine in a turbine with modifications to the fuel injection.
That range is so short I can't see it being any use.
Yes, unfortunately batteries are still too heavy to allow more usable range while having a decent number of passengers and cargo weight on board. Even in this case it needed turbo generators for reserve range.
For my country, Brazil, 200km is nothing.........
@@danieldmg it's not much even here in the tiny UK. Once you get away from the expensive chargers on the motorway network there's not a lot in the country other than very slow L1 /L2 chargers.
Batteries are banned as cargo due to their propensity to explode or catch fire. Imagine being on one of these planes when the cells short circuit with catastrophic results. I'm sure they will "engineer" them to be safe, but chemistry is not as reliable or as safe as metallurgy.
Very good point! Definitely much more to be taken in consideration when using batteries in aviation, rather than in an electric car or truck.
Ide wait until they use solid state battery which is safer and lighter than lithium Ion battery.
The type of batteries that are banned do not meet the strict saftey requirements that the aviation industy demands.
Obviously the batteries used in such an aircraft will. I dont know why you hyphenated "Engineer", perhaps you dont fully understand how "engineers" certify components in the aviation industry.
Electric cars - I'll give them a chance... Hell: even electric buses or even trucks. But taking off even with less than 5t of dead weight sounds really stupid, no matter how efficient the engines and how advanced the engineering.
Something good may come out of it, though, in the sense that all the innovations needed to make that possible will also benefit said cars, trucks and buses... Yeah, that'd be a plus!
Yes, the huge dead weight is a major problem in aviation, we need an energy density in the batteries at least 7-10 higher than what we have today to approach some viability for longer flights, hope we all will get there soon. And you have made a good point saying that innovations needed to get there may benefit other areas of electric transportation!
if a battery is dead weight what do you call liquid fuel?
About 50% of the fuel is depleted by the time the plane reaches cruising altitude... That is for short flights, of course. Long range flights are out of the question for electric...
I was working for Saab for 20 years. I did similar calculations but used the weight per the Tesla figures for the batteries.
My estimate showed 20 tona of batteries for 200 km of electric flight.
Heart says 5! Maybe I am wrong but 10 tons at best. This is a scam, it will never happen.
It isn't the first electric airplane and it isn't very useful as it is. There have been toy electric planes for decades and now the first "certified" electric plane has been in service "the pipestrel" for some time - but the range is very limited and so its not of much use until more energy dence safe batteries come along - if they do.
You are right, it is not the first electric airplane, but it is the first which is about to operate on a regular route to transport passengers. Regarding the energy density of the batteries, there is the main bottleneck in developing these planes.
200km? I will use car instead.
Hybrid planes are not really electric. Don’t mix it up.