..."Developing electrical propulsion to the sort of levels that could power electric aircraft is a tricky undertaking. Weight is a key consideration and directly relates to how far an electric aircraft can travel. As such, MagniX has developed a motor that does without standard components like cooling equipment and a speed reduction gearbox, enabling it to travel light.
Instead, its magni500 motor uses a closed-loop liquid cooling system and turns at 1,900 rpm, which CEO Roei Ganzarski says allows for direct drive to the propellor. The motor delivers 750 hp (560 kW) and more than 2,800 Nm (2,065 lb-ft) of torque."...
Weight is certainly a critical concern with any aircraft. The weight and cooling of an electric motor seem like a trivial problem. The weight of the stored electric power (batteries) would be my concern for the crux of the problem. The Solar Impulse mitigated the battery needs by gathering solar energy during flight.
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The problem is they produce very little in the way of power compared to the power demands of the engines. All well and good for light weight aircraft (practically gliders) with massive surface area and little cargo weight, but still impractical for aircraft carrying any decent weight (like passenger or cargo aircraft).
Someone is going to have to come up with a decent advance in high energy density, light weight electric power cells to really make this practical for anything other than specialty electric motor aircraft. We may have to wait a while still.
Still waiting for air taxi's to become a thing I guess.....Licensing, certification, logistics, support, probably all of these and more....There seems to be no news, maybe they ran out of money....that would be my guess...
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Electric Airplanes
Re: Electric Airplanes
