A Dutch startup says it has come up with a design for a fully electric passenger aircraft with a range of 500 miles (805km) and space for 90 passengers, CNN reported.
The plane, called the E9X, currently exists only on paper but Elysian plans to build a scale model within two to three years, and a full-scale prototype by 2030, the story went on, in what could be a breakthrough for the commercial aviation industry which is struggling to reduce its climate impact.
The E9X will have eight propeller engines and a wingspan of almost 42m, making it larger than a Boeing 737 or an Airbus A320, the report continued, though it would only be able to carry half the number of passengers.
“Many experts say you need battery technology beyond [anything that will be available until] 2050 to get reasonable range and payload capability,” said Reynard de Vries, director of design and engineering at Elysian. “But the question we asked ourselves was, ‘how do I get the maximum range for the battery technology that we already have?’ ”
- By Sean O’Meara
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