And if EV planes become a reality, how much faster can it fly?
In: Engineering
Airlines don’t want to fly faster. If you look at 50 years old departure tables and flight times for the big airports it’s more or less the same.
This is because airliners typically cruise at mach 0.7-0.8. Any faster you would approach the speed of sound and as you get close to it you get a lot of drag, which costs tons of fuel.
Modern airlines are about flying lighter, not faster, to optimize fuel and costs. And batteries are heavy
Also batteries perform poorly in cold environments (the chemical reaction in the battery slows down) while the exterior of the aircraft is facing below -40 degrees. You would probably need to heat your battery for it to work at all.
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