Elon Musk Revealed Tesla Electric Airplane: With all the innovation we’ve seen over the past few decades, Elon Musk and his companies have brought some of the most innovative ways to space exploration and transportation on the road. But it may not be just space and Earth that billionaire geniuses will be watching, it is also on the kingdom of the sky.
The aviation world has been the least progressive in a few decades, but this is not because humans can’t come up with better alternatives, but because the choices will have a unique impact on its financing or environmental sustainability.
But can this be answered by electricity? How does Tesla plan to develop one of its most ambitious projects to take flights to the next level?
Unlike Musk’s automotive and interplanetary ambitions, we have limited knowledge of what to expect from a Tesla plane, so we’ll try to split the article into five parts. Does Tesla have plans for the aviation industry, will it be better than a conventional plane, the problems an electric plane needs to address, solutions, and what to expect from it.
What are Tesla’s plans for the aviation industry?
Tesla is ahead with its on-road transportation. You can find thousands of videos and leaks about innovations with their on-road EVs, but the Tesla plane looks like it’s going to take so long that it’s not worth the wait.
But unlike these, Elon Musk himself has said that he is looking to build an efficient electric plane.
From the information we do know, we can deduce that Elon has told us time and again that his idea for an aircraft would be VTOL or simply put, a craft that can take off vertically.
He also confirmed that he plans to make it a supersonic jet as seen from his interviews. But just looking on the bright side isn’t enough to tell how well it can perform.
Seeing the major problems and developments required by the project is another sign that Tesla is seriously considering the project. Elon says the capacity he has for Tesla aircraft is not just an economic problem but a constraint of efficiency and resources.
Although Tesla is going for a full-capacity aircraft, there are many studies and patents submitted by car manufacturing companies like Tesla and Hyundai for prototypes of cars that can carry 3 to 4 people in the air.
Since there are companies other than Tesla that invest in such technologies, it will bring the competition necessary for Tesla to produce its best results—fast.
Better than a conventional plane?
We have a problem with our planes. No, it’s not a lack of innovation, but a lack of practicality and expense. Take Concorde for example, when it came out in the 80’s it could fly from New York to London in just 3.5 hours. But even though it was practical, it had countless problems, especially with the cost of fuel and the damage it would do to the ozone layer.
It was twice the speed of sound which means it was quite noisy and required extra care for take-off and landing. Due to these problems, the flight was soon put on hold and it seems that we have reached the limit in aviation until we try to use an electric plane.
Electric planes run on batteries and can be quite cheap. And we’ll also reduce manufacturing costs and not have as ridiculously high maintenance costs as conventional aircraft.
According to Musk, he also plans to make take-off more efficient by limiting the runway distance. If the aircraft could generate upward thrust which could then be redirected as forwarding thrust for movement, the flight could practically take off like a drone.
Since upward thrust can be split with multiple propellers, it can be used to limit noise output from take-off. It is also practically possible because the estimated take-off power of an aircraft would be only 400 watt-hours per kilogram.
Tesla is also working on improving its battery capacity compelling aircraft, you really only need 400 watt-hours per kilogram, given that the plane has a higher percentage of your cells on the craft than it needs to be anywhere near high.
It doesn’t need to be on a rocket, but if it’s like at 70 percent level at 400 watts per kilogram you can have a pretty decent range. Unlike conventional planes, the Tesla plane will be supersonic without any problems like what we currently have. is near.
This means that the transport will be much faster and can reduce the travel time by about 50 percent.
The Problems
When we’re talking about Tesla planes, we can’t ignore some of the challenges Tesla has to overcome. The biggest problem with any electric plane will be the battery.
This is something that Elon Musk has talked about too many times as one of the biggest obstacles to the Tesla plane. While batteries are powerful, they can only store a limited supply of energy. Unlike fuel which you can transport and move in a very limited amount of time, this is not possible with electricity.
Tesla IS working on improving its battery capacity and according to Musk, there could be possibilities of making more efficient batteries in just a few years. Hen there’s the fact that flights can’t have pitstops.
Even if your Tesla car has a full battery, you may have to make a stop or two if you have a cross-country road trip. Now imagine flying 100 feet in the sky over nations in a single leg.
Fortunately, several companies are working on ways to make batteries more efficient without increasing their size and this should come as a relief to anyone waiting for a Tesla plane. But it’s not just battery capacity that will be a problem for airlines, but it’s also safety.
The fuel tank in an aircraft may have a number of safety measures in place to ensure that it doesn’t get damaged and even if it does get damaged, there are steps to reduce the magnitude.
However, since the electric plane is still in its early stages, there is neither enough research nor certification to provide a protective protocol in case something happens to the battery.
It’s also really expensive to routinely check for defects in the battery compared to just checking the fuel pipe in a conventional aircraft.
Conventional aircraft also have options to dump fuel in case something goes wrong while taking off or landing to reduce explosive damage, but if the battery catches on fire, there’s no way you can get the battery out of the plane and onto the passengers. able to dump away.
Can Tesla Solve the Problems of an All-Electric Plane?
Almost all problems have solutions. As long as there is time, we humans will take measures that are efficient and simple. This is to be expected from Tesla.
The problems of electric planes are not that great either. It has already been proven that we can take off supersonic jets from vertical take. It is also possible that electric aircraft can travel for a limited distance but only with a limited speed of less than 40 kilometers per hour.
Does that sentence sound familiar? Yes, that’s exactly what people used to say about electric cars, when they were slow and low mileage, Tesla did it and changed the world of electric automobiles.
The same thing can be done for planes. Musk also said that to address the problems, he plans to merge Tesla’s facilities with SpaceX’s aero engineers. It will also provide the necessary informational resources for an electric plane that no other company has.
He has also said that prototypes of flying cars could be practical. In addition, the biggest problems with the battery are being worked out every day.
Not only EVs but devices and technologies require small but efficient batteries and efforts are being made to make efficient batteries from all aspects of every industry. When the battery problem is solved, it’s only a matter of testing and certification to see the first electric planes. Try to imagine what time did to the computer.
Computers that came back in the ’80s were very few but had very little power. Now it may be as sleek as a MacBook but it has unparalleled power when compared to older computers. It is only a matter of time before we see this pattern in batteries as well.
Tesla also manages to bring an option for the power source. Instead of charging from the ground, it would be practical if the aircraft could charge mid-flight right? Well, there is a way and it is called solar power.
Having extremely efficient solar panels could also supply additional power to Tesla aircraft and would be as efficient as having a backup fuel tank on a conventional aircraft.
Granted Tesla needs to reprogram entire solar panels to have the most efficiency, it’s absolutely doable, at least in theory. But not all solutions come from Tesla, some solutions for EV aircraft come from people who care about the environment.
A wealth and specialized research have been put into producing efficient electric planes and the best part is that they are open source. Empire CEO Kevin Noertkar says that “we need to transform the industry and electrification is one of the big trends that will hopefully ease that burden.
Now that we come to the most important part of the video, let’s take a look at how far and how far it is possible for Tesla to release an electric plane! It is not easy to predict a certain date for the Tesla aircraft.
But scientific advances in the field of electronic solutions and the interest Musk has shown for the project can be used to give a rough period of where you can expect production.
Going by detailed researches, it is quite possible that we can expect to see a smaller and more efficient battery within 3 to four years. Take a look at this tweet by Musk where he confirmed the possibility.
Next, assuming Tesla at least starts creating a blueprint for the machine, it will take 2 to 3 years of testing and research to build a workable model. But this will not be the end as aviation certifications are still required for mass production of the aircraft.
That would add another 1-2 years and Tesla would need a year or two to commercialize the plane. In addition, it can take up to a year, where some new protocols have to be created for electric planes.
Adding to all this, you will have to wait about 8 more years to see a supersonic electric plane take off from the skies. You can also expect that the aircraft will have a larger passenger and cargo capacity and that the aircraft will be more efficient.
You can also expect the Tesla plane to be highly government-approved and funded as it will help nations adapt to green transportation. Just as SpaceX collaborates with NASA, government aviation departments can contribute to making aviation more efficient, effective, and cheaper with Tesla.
But speaking of price, you might have to wait a few more years to get ridiculously cheap flights because Tesla will still need to make back the money they invested in research in their early years.
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Information Source: Youtube – Top Electric
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