Norway's first electric plane crashes into lake

[midian182]

What just happened? Electric cars are becoming increasingly popular, but there’s still plenty of work to do in the world of electric planes. In Norway, plans for the aircraft took a nosedive when the country’s first battery-powered plane crashed into a lake.

As per Reuters, the Alpha Electro G2 plane, the first electric two-seater aircraft to be approved for commercial series production, is owned and operated by Norway’s state-run airport operator, Avinor. Company Chief Executive Dag Falk-Petersen was piloting the two-seater on the day of the crash, when he was showcasing the plane to high-profile passengers. Aase Marthe Horrigmo, a junior government minister, was riding with him at the time of the incident. Both were unharmed.

Precisely what caused the plane to crash is still unclear. According to Forbes, the pilot lost power from the engines as he was approaching the airport to land. He believes the plane was traveling at 43 mph when it hit the water. “I made a mayday call and looked for a place to land,” Falk-Petersen told public broadcaster NRK.

Avinor told Reuters last year it hoped to see commercial passenger flights on electric planes by 2025, with all domestic flights electrified by 2040.

Norway leads the way when it comes to electric cars, with more EVs on the road per capita than any other country; they accounted for sixty percent of car sales in March this year.

The big problem with electric planes is the weight, with the heavy batteries resulting in limited ranges. The Alpha Electro G2 has a range of about 81 miles and a maximum flight time of an hour.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/81461-norway-first-electric-plane-crashes-lake.html

 

[Manya3084]

Yeah...nah
I'll take my chances with jet fuel.
Pretty sure LiPo's could melt steel beams.

 

[Vulcanproject]

Power density is only one major factor for cars, but it's everything for aircraft. Range and payload. The efficiency of high bypass jet engines today is so incredible electrifying aircraft is much, much further away than everyone having electric cars.

Besides the fact you can run turbines on a long list of viable alternatives to fossil fuels. I have seen turbines running on everything from vodka to perfume to peanut oil. Sustainable biofuel is realistic when oil starts to run out/gets very expensive, which means that even post oil apocalypse we can still fly on vacation. That's ok then.

 

[Sochsun]

Man, if you could take all the battery advancements posted on this site over the years (graphene batteries, year of year increases in battery density, immersion cooling, aluminium air, etc), and make all those improvements simultaneously, you could have a battery that would work in this application.

Because I absolutely love the idea of a plane that I plug in overnight to then fly the next day.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Lemme fix that for you:

"Norway leads the way when it comes to [subsidizing the $#¡† out of] electric cars, with more EVs on the road per capita than any other country; they accounted for sixty percent of car sales in March this year."

 

[petert]

This is how they started with electric cars. I remember being a student at the beginning of 2000's and taking a course called "Electric Traction". They were talking about a two seater Fiat with 20km range and which could not approach but the mildest of slopes. And it was running on lead based battery, albeit there was a discussion of replacing this technology with gel batteries (you would not want the acid pouring on you in a crash where you are trapped in an upside down car).

 

[sdsdv10]

There is one other significant difference. As a ICE based plan uses up its fuel, the play gets lighter, potentially increasing range as the tanks empty. With an electric powered plan, the batteries just become dead weight as their reserves are drawn down.

 

[Markoni35]

This is just an intermediate phase before they start selling nuclear-fusion based generators. I saw it in Terminator.

 

[Capaill]

Nobody was harmed. But I wonder how many fish were fried when the electric plane hit the water

 

[clytndn]

Man, if you could take all the battery advancements posted on this site over the years (graphene batteries, year of year increases in battery density, immersion cooling, aluminium air, etc), and make all those improvements simultaneously, you could have a battery that would work in this application.
Because I absolutely love the idea of a plane that I plug in overnight to then fly the next day.

We already have these...you just can't fly *in* them.

 

[MMWWMM]

There is one other significant difference. As a ICE based plan uses up its fuel, the play gets lighter, potentially increasing range as the tanks empty. With an electric powered plan, the batteries just become dead weight as their reserves are drawn down.

Why then we would not make airplanes with electric engines powered by hydrogen? Hindenburg was the thing a long time ago, and we maked a lot of progress

 

[Irata]

This is how they started with electric cars. I remember being a student at the beginning of 2000's and taking a course called "Electric Traction". They were talking about a two seater Fiat with 20km range and which could not approach but the mildest of slopes. And it was running on lead based battery, albeit there was a discussion of replacing this technology with gel batteries (you would not want the acid pouring on you in a crash where you are trapped in an upside down car).

Electric cars started much earlier. They actually outsold gasoline powered vehicles in the early 20th century. So this is not new technology.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

When the battery dies, so do you.

EV makes no sense at all for aircraft.

Fuel burning gives aircraft the power to generate electricity and manipulate air pressure or liquid pressure to move hydraulics in ways batteries can't be trusted to.

 

[Danny101]

Don't forget Norway to shield all your electric planes, trains, and automobiles from the inevitable solar flares.