Re: Next steps towards a net zero IETF

[Christian Huitema <[e-mail]>]

On 3/31/2023 3:04 AM, Hesham ElBakoury wrote:
> Companies are lookinto building electric flights. For example, hundreds of
> them are building *eVTOLs*: electric vertical take-off and landing
> vehicles. It’s a horrible acronym for small aircraft that take off and land
> like a helicopter and fly like a plane.
> 
> I do not know when we will have an electric plane that travel from San
> Francisco or Europe to Japan?

In a fairly long time.

The current electric planes "in production" are typically low range, low 
capacity -- from 1 seat to 4 seat. The next planes to come to market 
will probably address the "short flight" market, a few hundred miles. 
Further than that, and the weight of the batteries becomes prohibitive. 
Europe to Japan would require some major advances in battery technology.

For long distance, "climate conscious" planes are much more likely to 
burn some kind of green fuel like bio-diesel (or "bio kerosene") or 
maybe hydrogen. We might see electric powered airships, modern version 
of the Zeppelins, but these would be much slower than current airliners.

-- Christian Huitema