One of electrically-assisted flight’s limiting factors is the supporting technologies required to create enough power for sustained flight without incurring massive penalties to weight and mobility.
Something to look forward to: Hybrid and fully electric vehicles have revolutionized transportation and driven changes in everything from emissions standards to charging infrastructures. While aviation engineers have attempted to bring similar innovation to the skies, they’ve been faced with numerous size and power delivery challenges that prevent practical large-scale application and adoption. Thanks to recent breakthroughs by a team of MIT engineers, we may soon find ourselves one step closer to large-scale electrically powered air travel.
One of electrically-assisted flight’s limiting factors is the supporting technologies required to create enough power for sustained flight without incurring massive penalties to weight and mobility.
Current smaller scale applications use electric motors capable of generating hundreds of kilowatts of power supported by a large number of batteries, greatly increasing the aircraft’s weight while decreasing its potential payload.
