In 5 years, electric planes could be a reality: Musk
Elon Musk's Tesla is revolutionizing the automotive industry with some really impressive self-driving electric cars. The company has produced a bunch of models, but it seems Musk's sustainable EV vision goes way beyond road transport. The tech mogul recently touched the topic of electric planes and said they could be a reality in the next five years. Here's more on what he said.
Fuel-free planes are coming
To note, present-day planes rely on the combustion of jet fuel, aka kerosene, to produce the thrust required for taking to the skies. As it's a costly affair, a Twitter user quizzed Musk about the possibility of replacing jet fuel with a powerful enough battery. In response, the billionaire said we can definitely have battery-powered electric planes, but their range would be fairly limited.
Apparently, energy density is the problem
In the ensuing tweets, Musk implied that the roadblock between humans and viable e-planes is energy density - the amount of energy stored in a system per unit volume. Kerosene has a much higher energy density than Lithium-ion batteries, which makes it ideal for planes. However, he emphasized that the problem would solve as the energy density of electric batteries improves.
Here is Musk's tweet
Musk says battery energy density would improve in 5 years
Detailing the need for battery improvements, Musk said Li-ion would be able to match, or even beat, jet fuel in terms of range and power with an energy density of 400 Wh/kg. He said current high cycle batteries can make about 300 Wh/kg of energy density, but the threshold of 400Wh/kg is likely to be crossed in the next five years.
Will Tesla make an electric plane?
While Musk envisions electric planes, there's no confirmation if Tesla would be the one to make this aircraft. Musk did have a design of an electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle, but that project was never detailed and we can't say if it would ever see the light of day. Either way, for Tesla, developing electric planes seems like a natural step forward.
