SpaceX And Tesla Founder Is A Strong Proponent Of Electric Propulsion

SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk may be turning his attention to an electric airplane, which he thinks could be viable in just a few years.

The website electrek.com reports that Musk has long been a strong proponent of all modes of transportation being electric ... save the rockets he is launching. But while Musk said several years ago he had an eVTOL aircraft on the drawing boards, it never went beyond the design stage. Musk said at the time that the energy density of batteries was not sufficient for such aircraft to be commercially viable.

Over the weekend, Musk updated his opinion about when batteries might be able to provide enough energy per pound to power airplanes. In a Twitter exchange with a user with the handle "Ninja", Musk said that while there are currently electric airplanes flying, they are "still a bit limited on range. That will change in coming years as battery energy density improves."

He appears to be talking about commercial aircraft. He went on to say that jet fuel has a much higher energy density than Li-ion batteries, "but electric motors weigh much less and convert stored energy to motion better than combustion engines."

Still, Fred Lambert, who wrote the article for electrek.com, said in his view, he doubts Tesla will expand into the aviation business.

(Image from file)

FMI: Source report