Airbus considering hybrid system for next-gen mainstream passenger jet

Airbus A320neoHybrid technology isn’t just for cars or trucks. Anywhere there’s waste heat or kinetic energy that can be recaptured—which means virtually every mode of transportation—there’s an opportunity for hybrid tech to make the entire mission more fuel-efficient. Such is also the case for big passenger jets. According to the...

Rolls-Royce guns for electric airplane speed record

Rolls-Royce ACCEL electric speed record attempt airplaneWhen most people think of Rolls-Royce, they think of ultra-luxury cars, not airplanes. But a separate Rolls-Royce, spun off of the automaker in 1971, makes aircraft engines. And that company plans to go electric in tackling the world speed record for electric airplanes. To borrow a famous phrase from the automaker, if "horsepower is sufficient."...

First all-electric airline could soar with converted old seaplanes

Harbour Air De Havilland DHC-2 Mk III Beaver flying out of Vancouver, B.C. (Credit: Harbour Air)By land, by sea, and by air, battery power is expanding to drive all kinds of transportation. The most challenging of these modes may be air travel. It's harder to loft several thousand pounds of batteries into the air, to make them last potentially an hour or more. And if they run out of juice, pilots can't just pull over and call for a tow...

Electrified Bell Nexus concept shows how Uber Air could take off

Bell Nexus VTOL hybrid air taxiAlthough flying cars aren’t looking that much closer to reality, your Uber could take to the air in just a few years and be electric. Well, mostly electric, eventually. Hybrid electric-powered vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicles could come into service specifically as air taxis. In January, at CES, Bell Helicopter presented one such...

Are electric airplanes actually a real thing?

World's first electric-plane aerotow with Siemens SPD260-powered Extra 330LE, © Jean-Marie UrlacherWith electrification spreading through many types of transport, one vehicle still remains largely absent in using electrons for propulsion: aircraft. Automakers have been building commercially viable electrified cars—in whole (electrics) or in part (hybrids)—for more than two decades now. Meanwhile, the aerospace industry has...

Electric jet startup is backed by Boeing and JetBlue

Zunum range-extended electric regional jet - concept designSeattle-based startup Zunum Aero has received funding from Boeing HorizonX and JetBlue Technology Ventures toward making its dream of electrified air travel a reality. Sometimes billed as the Tesla of the airplane industry, Zunum is developing a relatively small regional aircraft with about 700 miles of range. A 1,000-mile range will be attainable...

Why liquid hydrogen may make sense for airplanes, replacing jet fuel

KLM biofuel-powered airliner (KLM)If you want to find a major source of transportation-related emissions, just look up. Aviation currently accounts for around 2 percent of global carbon emissions, and many analysts believe its share could triple by the middle of the century if projected growth in air travel occurs. But finding alternatives to fossil fuels has proven much more...

So how about all-electric supersonic aircraft, then?

Concorde (photo by Eduard Marmet, via Wikimedia Commons)Supersonic airliners haven't flown since 2003, when the last Concorde was retired. But could supersonic planes carrying large number of passengers make a comeback—and with electric power no less? That's the vision of Luke Workman, a designer of lithium-ion battery packs who believes all-electric supersonic aircraft are attainable. DON'T...

So how about all-electric supersonic aircraft, then?

Concorde (photo by Eduard Marmet, via Wikimedia Commons)Supersonic airliners haven't flown since 2003, when the last Concorde was retired. But could supersonic planes carrying large number of passengers make a comeback—and with electric power no less? That's the vision of Luke Workman, a designer of lithium-ion battery packs who believes all-electric supersonic aircraft are attainable. DON'T...