Electric planes don't need the sun to fly, but need financing

CHESAPEAKE, VIRGINIA – JUNE 28: Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald… [+] Trump arrives for his campaign rally at Greenbrier Farms on June 28, 2024 in Chesapeake, Virginia. Last night, Trump and US President Joe Biden participated in the first presidential debate of the 2024 campaign. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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At a campaign rally in Chesapeake, Virginia, on Friday, former President Donald Trump criticized the push to develop electric planes, saying: “All they know is electric. They want electric tanks. They want electric airplanes. What happens if the sun doesn’t shine while you’re in the air?”

While it's always difficult to tell when a bombastic speaker is being intentionally obtuse or simply uninformed, he may not be alone in his misunderstanding of how electric aircraft work and why anyone would want to develop such aircraft.

With a major player in the alternative fuels field declaring bankruptcy, in part due to investor concerns that Trump would roll back Biden's support for sustainable aviation programs, it is perhaps timely to offer a simple guide to this technology.

Not all electric planes are solar planes, and solar planes don't need constant sunshine

First, let's be clear that not all electric aircraft programs consider solar power as a power source. Those that are considering solar panels use batteries to store the sun's energy so they can operate in cloudy conditions and at night.

A remarkable program, Solar Impulse, has already proven that solar-powered passenger planes can fly around the world. I visited the Solar Impulse control center in Monaco during the circumnavigation program in 2016.

While this is a promising development, it is unlikely that solar energy will be able to power large airliners.

Indeed, the main challenge for any type of electric aircraft is that it must have sufficient battery storage to power the aircraft during its mission. The power demands of larger aircraft would require batteries that are too large and heavy to fly. Balancing aerodynamic weight restrictions with sustainable power supply is a real challenge that many aerospace companies are working to address.

Solar cells could, however, power other important flying machines, such as single- and double-seater aircraft and drones for transportation, communications and defense services. Again, these aircraft, like Solar Impulse, would use batteries to store solar energy, so they could continue flying when the sun isn't shining.

Hydrogen power promise crushed by investor concerns over funding shift under Trump

In sad news for those tracking sustainable aircraft development, Universal Hydrogen collapsed this week after spending $100 million in funding and failing to raise more. The innovative program was working on the most likely sustainable energy source that could scale to larger aircraft: hydrogen power.

The company's founder and CEO, Paul Eremenko, who previously worked as a technical director at Airbus, told the Seattle Times: “If [Donald] If Trump wins, investors would see a significant risk of the massive green hydrogen subsidy put in place under the Biden Inflation Reduction Act disappearing.

But the promise of hydrogen flight is compelling enough for many European and British companies to continue their research and development. As Airbus, which is actively working on hydrogen propulsion, explains:

Hydrogen is a technology with great potential with a specific energy per unit mass three times higher than that of traditional jet fuel. If generated from renewable energy through electrolysis, hydrogen emits no CO2 emissions, allowing renewable energy to potentially power large aircraft over long distances, but without the unwanted by-product of CO2 emissions.

The aviation industry is considering a combination of hydrogen solutions, including sustainable synthetic aviation fuel (SAF) produced from hydrogen energy, hybrid hydrogen fuel cells to power aircraft, and combustion engines. 'hydrogen.

Airbus is studying a blended-wing airliner with up to 200 seats and a range of 2,000 nautical miles, which could be powered by hydrogen instead of fossil fuel.

There are many promising programs underway to research sustainable alternative energy sources to power aircraft, but they need funding to fuel their future.

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisagarcia/2024/06/30/trump-fact-check-electric-planes-dont-need-sunshine-to-fly-but-do-need-funding/ The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

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