[Richard230]

There is an interesting illustrated 10-page article regarding the latest electric and hydrogen-powered aircraft that are currently being tested and on the drawing boards in the March/April issue of Flight Journal magazine. (Perhaps your local library subscribes to the magazine. Their website is FlightJournal.com)

What caught my eye were the following two paragraphs:

"Jet fuel has an energy density of about 12,000 watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg. Lithium-ion batteries have an energy density at the cell level of about 250 Wh/kg. Battery pack energy is typically 20% lower given the weight penalty for safety features.

Battery efficiency is reportedly improving at about 5-8% a year. NASA has suggested that batteries with 350-Wh/kg energy density at the pack level could be commercially ready by 2030. This would make small, short-range aircraft feasible with up to 19 seats for distances less than 250 miles. If new technology provides commercially adequate charge and charge-cycle times, electric short-range 30-seat aircraft could become feasible."

[GlennF]

The interesting thing is that for shorter regional hops the regional jets like Canadair's CRJ are not overly economical, something like the DH Dash 8 Turbo prop is much more cost efficient. Customers however have a preference for jets. For shorter hops a regional electric aircraft may be feasible eventually if the customers will accept them.

Long haul flights currently flown by the likes of the Airbus 380 are unlikely to go electric anytime in the near future.

[AzCal Retred]

R23 -  you have struck at the heart of the matter. "Jet fuel has an energy density of about 12,000 watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg. Lithium-ion batteries have an energy density at the cell level of about 250 Wh/kg." An initial near 50/1 power to weight disadvantage is only partially dispelled by very high electric motor efficiency. Even a 100% efficient electric motor against a 20% efficient infernal combustion motor still leaves you at nearly 10/1 weight disadvantage. As design range requirements increase, a battery will become a much larger percentage of vehicle weight faster that equivalent weight of stored liquid hydrocarbon (LH) fuel. LH fuels are easily transportable, and synthetic LH fuels using "recycled" carbon achieve the same goal of energy storage and net CO2 reduction as electric, but don't require a complete revamp of your transport infrastructure or strip mining the world for lithium.

Another real issue is "on demand" point source production & delivery of electricity where the electrical loading has changed dramatically. Recharging a 12 KWHr battery (roughly 16 HP for 1 hour) in 15 minutes is equivalent to running a 64 HP electric motor for 15 minutes. Automobile batteries are 6x-20x larger, so real time power requirements go way up. Recharging 5-10 large "SUV" EV's all at the same time after work at one "gas" station could easily equate to 400-600 HP per vehicle for that 15 minute period, maybe 3,500 - 5,000 HP total demand instead of the normal 5-10 HP or so of running the fuel pumps of a conventional gas station. The surrounding electrical infrastructure to that station all needs to be beefed up to handle that huge increase in intermittent power demand. This is all doable, but you'll pay the private utilities very well indeed to achieve it.

[Carl Fenn]

Well l have read a lot about electric aircraft at the present time it does not have the payload or range only capable of kangaroo hops, l suppose you could have cassette batteries and change them every landing, but you are still stuck on long distance and passenger weight,my bet would be hydrogen power.

[AzCal Retred]

Here's the easy way to "zero CO2", combining H2 and recycled carbon into any hydrocarbon fuel you want. Zero CO2 is achieved and you don't have to rediscover the wheel re the entire transportation system. The user end hardware stays the same, no hassle with either carrying around 6,000 PSI H2, cryogenic H2 or massive weights in batteries, just refill with your existing fuel tank with your preferred hydrocarbon liquid. The massive (& expensive) electrical infrastructure overhaul required to "quick charge" hundreds of thousands of vehicles daily would not be needed.

https://www.shell.com/business-customers/aviation/the-future-of-energy/sustainable-aviation-fuel/synthetic-kerosene.html
Synthetic kerosene – the future of aviation?
As the aviation sector seeks to decarbonise and reduce emissions, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) has a key role to play but requires bold action from airlines, fuel providers, and policymakers in order to reach the necessary scale. One challenge the industry faces is finding more ways to make SAF at commercial scale using different feedstocks and processes. Therefore, we are proud to share a breakthrough from Shell Aviation that shows the feasibility of an innovative, lower-carbon pathway for making SAF.
In May 2020 Shell accepted a BHAG challenge (Big Hairy Audacious Goal), from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management to produce an amount of sustainable synthetic kerosene beyond labatory scale at the Shell Technology Centre Amsterdam.
What started with an innovative industry challenge, ended with the world’s first flight using certified, synthetic kerosene made from hydrogen and recycled carbon. Synthetic fuel is not new, as we have been producing it for decades with the help of fossil resources.

[Carl Fenn]

This would be a much superior direction to follow if you think about, a hoping electric kangaroo would be a backward step and waste of money we already know it would work.

[GlennF]

This would be a much superior direction to follow if you think about, a hoping electric kangaroo would be a backward step and waste of money we already know it would work.

The biggest issue with kangaroos is they are a pest and there are far too many of them (unlike the Koala which is endangered) so adding electric ones to the already existing population would be counter productive. though of course the electric ones would eat less grass and if you put hazard lights on them a lot less would be collected by road trains on the highway at night.

[AzCal Retred]

GlennF - possessor of secret Macropodidae knowledge...   

https://www.zdnet.com/article/bouncy-kangaroo-robot-is-unstoppable/
more details about the Bionic Kangaroo:
It weighs about 15 pounds and stands about 3 feet tall. The main body is a shell made of foam.
Each leap lifts it just over a foot into the air and propels it about 2.5 feet forward.
A Thalmic Labs Myo armband lets you control it by gesturing with your arm.

Festo - BionicKangaroo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWiNlWk1Muw

[GlennF]

GlennF - possessor of secret Macropodidae knowledge...   

Well my brothers used to shoot them and mum insisted they eat what they shot, so we got to eat kangaroo a lot. Very gamey and tough but acceptable braised up with onions and gravy  

I have had a few run ins with the little bundles of joy including bouncing off one at 60 mph on my old XJ900 out the back of Moree. I did not drop the bike and the roo seemed to happily jump up and hop off relatively uninjured.

At one stage I was renting the old Terry Hie Hie homestead ($15 a week for 10 acres and a 23 room house)  in what is now an indigenous reserve and would get up at sunrise and see literally 40 or 50 of them in the paddock across the road munching away.

back on topic - there is always this option from BMW ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmRQKZZ_wXc

[Richard230]

I bet that guy has "range anxiety". 

[Karl Childers]

I bet that guy has "range anxiety". 

That could mean different things in different places.

[Carl Fenn]

Ho back in the good old days when rents were affordable l remember my first house in 1980 £13 a week those times were great, mind you we didn’t eat kangaroo but l would have tried it.

[AzCal Retred]

Can't be any worse that a road-kill jack rabbit picked off of the front bumper of your schoolmates 1967 VW Beetle on your way back up to NAU in Flagstaff. Juniper makes a nice cook fire, just don't accidentally burn off the long twig holding your next bite, ashes are gritty. If you are hungry, you'll eat! 

[Carl Fenn]

Well l suppose it goes back to that old saying you eat anything if you are hungry enough.

[AzCal Retred]

" Socrates... says that the best sauce for food is hunger and the best flavoring for drink thirst. "  Cicero

That rather explains these items...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut_(food)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durian

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surstromming