Commercial airlines are trying to find a way to help reduce their carbon footprint in order to contribute to the avoidance of the earth warming by another two degrees Celsius. The process of developing electric airplanes that have this ability requires finding a battery that is capable of handling the battery density necessary to maintain prolonged flights. Since the most common lithium batteries only come with a density of 250-watts, this is quite an extensive project in itself.

Key Takeaways:

• The world is doing its best to keep the global temperatures from rising above two percent each year but to achieve this would involve more than just decarbonization.
• Decarbonization in energy use or the elimination of carbon or fossil fuels for energy has already started in things like cars and buses.
• One drawback of using batteries for air travel is that they have relatively low energy density, and a lot of weight and space would be needed to use them.

“The researchers look at a set of related issues. One is whether batteries can reach an energy density sufficient to make using them for air travel possible. The other is whether doing so will be economical.”

Read more: https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/12/when-will-electric-airliners-make-sense/