Reality Is True, Even If You Don't Want It To Be

Jet Fuel is basically kerosene. Slightly more refined, but only slightly. It will burn, but it won't explode. Using hydrogen to create electricity was the toast of the Left a few years back. It didn't work out as planned. So, can you replace one with the other?

Ecojet was going to change the way we fly. Dale Vince’s net zero airline in disarray after sacking almost entire workforce. Things didn't work out that way.

A leading Labour donor’s plans to establish the world’s first all-electric airline have been thrown into doubt after it sacked almost its entire workforce.

Two employees remain.

Hydrogen is useful stuff, but storing it is a nightmare. And whatever you store it in, together with any piping and tubing exposed is subject to hydrogen-induced cracking. It is just the nature of the material that it destroys whatever metal it comes in contact with. And it is explosive.

Does that sound like something you want to have as fuel in an airliner?

This is the MGUY Australia video Electric AVIATION is the DUMBEST idea yet

Kerosene jet fuel is quite remarkable. In just 1 kilogram, about one and a quarter liters, there is no less than 43 megajoules of energy. That's equivalent to about 12 kilowatt hours or 20% of a standard EV battery in just 1 kilogram. You'd need about 43 kg of batteries to store the same energy. Just for fun, I calculated the mass of lithium-ion batteries you'd need to power a small commercial jet like a Boeing 737.

You can check his math if you like, but it comes to the following. To store the same amount of power in a battery for your electric 737, that battery would weigh 700 tons. The Maximum takeoff weight of a 737-200 is about 64 tons, depending on engines.

The video is about 10 minutes long.

To be clear, you can power ducted fan engines for an airliner-sized airplane with electricity. It is my understanding that the DoD investigated that back in the Cold War. It would take a nuclear reactor, like those we deploy in submarines and aircraft carriers, to power them. Do you want a lot of nuclear reactors flying over major cities, or over the countryside? Me neither.