Air travel contributes to nearly 2.5% of all global carbon dioxide emissions, giving it one of the highest carbon footprints of any form of transportation. At the moment, the sustainable aviation industry provides flyers with extremely limited options for green air travel, but this shows signs of changing. It was previously thought that battery powered aircrafts would be a luxury reserved only for small planes, but Dutch startup Elysian is challenging this notion by engineering plans for the first electric 90-seater passenger aircraft.
Elysian's design for the plane, known as the E9X, includes the ability to fly 500 miles on a single charge. Though it currently only exists on paper, the company has hopes of having a full-scale model built within two to three years, and a working prototype up and running by 2030.
With eight propeller engines and a wingspan that makes it slightly larger than a Boeing 737 or an Airbus A320, the E9X could look unlike anything that frequent travelers are used to seeing. In practice, this would most likely result in the airplane having a reduced propeller diameter with larger wings and a smaller body, meaning that it could resemble old passenger planes from the 1960s.
Upon completion, the E9X's climate impact could be 75-90% lower than the comparable fuel jets that are used today. But for flyers, the benefits of electric air travel are more than just environmental. Due to the battery, the E9X should provide passengers with a more quiet flight experience than fuel jets. Elysian also aims to solve the issue of limited luggage storage space in order to prioritize passenger comfort and relaxation.
Currently, the biggest challenge facing the Elysian team involves reducing the time it would take for a battery of this scale to charge. They are aiming for a maximum of 45 minutes to get it fully charged, but would prefer a half-hour charge to ensure that the charging process takes no longer than the standard refueling process many airlines are used to.
You can read the full research paper on TU Delft Research Repository.
Dutch startup Elysian has designed an electric airplane that is capable of seating 90 passengers and flying 500 miles on a single charge.
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