Major developed nation governments, car-making industries, and futurists agree that electric cars are the future of land travel, but nobody has ever mentioned electric planes as the future of flight. Maybe the world focused more on its sub-orbital capabilities as Virgin Intergalactic has, but a US startup has thought of an environmentally-friendly way to travel from London to Paris on the cheap using electricity.
Wright Electric is a young company that focuses on "Zero-Emissions Airliners" that do not use the typical aircraft engines powered by expensive jet fuel -- which also drives up the costs for flights and environmental damage. Jeff Engler founded the company just a few years ago and according to their official website, the company intends to bring electric flight into the mainstream transportation system in 20 years.
According to Business Insider's interview with the founder, introducing electric flights could result to cheaper travel without jet fuel consumption. Engler has and is still pitching to possible investors, winning over American investor Chip Yates, who owns the world's fastest electric aircraft, the Long-ESA, and another investor who intends to "have his fifth plane an electric one."
According to Fox News, the company intends to have the "Wright One" a template for mainstream electric aircraft flight. The plane could carry about 150 people for 300 miles for more affordable rates. The company is developing its own battery technology to allow lithium-ion batteries to power an entire aircraft -- current technologies could not carry the capacity the design needs.
Engler said the company's battery design will focus on making it like a gigantic aircraft toy that would allow "batteries to be swapped out and then recharged separately," eliminating the need for planes to "sit around and wait for batteries to recharge completely." In the next three decades, Wright Electric's battery designs could enable it to fly long-haul intercontinental flights hypothetically.
As electric technologies enter the transportation industry and successfully penetrate both train and car industries, innovations in aviation is the next logical step. Along with Wright Electric is the budget-airline Airbus who has been developing its own electric air vehicle in the past years.
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