We live in the years when electrical cars have gone from exotic one-offs to serial produced products, still expensive but more and more practical. Why should not the aircraft industry follow?
The car industry relied on the computer industry to develop affordable power dense batteries. These were needed for the laptops and it perfected the Lithium-ion chemistry battery and brought the production systems for these hard to produce batteries to mass production. Today Li-ion batteries are produced for smartphones, computers, cars and many other applications.
The Solar power industry that created solar cells to mount on one’s house perfected the solar cell unit and brought this to mass production and affordable prices. Finally the hybrid and full electrical car industry developed the power electronics needed for all the conversions and control of the electrical energy that drives the electrical engines. With all components there, why is the fact that Airbus E-Fan flies across the Channel and that its subsidiary, Voltair, will produce a commercially available electrical trainer for 2017 and a general purpose four seater aircraft for 2019 such a sensation?
The problems involved