> Again, this can be done for any aircraft, not just the electric ones.
Not only that: you burn the fuel, so for the second half of the flight you only need to carry half the fuel. But you have to carry the full battery mass (modulo E=mc^2) all the way.
Would electric towplanes be doable for passenger aircraft? (Long or short haul, electric or otherwise).
If one of the downside of electric planes is the range, while fuel is cheap, making them cheaper to operate, and take-off uses a significant portion of the total energy, I could see very powerful electric towplanes as a way to reduce the amount of fuel needed for takeoff. This would:
* Allow to travel longer distances with the same amount of fuel (enabling electric airplanes to fly longer distances). Alternatively, allow planes to fill up with less fuel for the same distance.
* Improve fuel efficiency of big airliners, and their carbon footprint if you consider regular ones.
One last question: aircraft that fly shorter routes typically embark less fuel, but would that be doable with electric planes?
It'd be fun to try, though.