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Comment by gnikif | Hacker News Reader

The only reason to bring them back is the fancy steampunky look. From the practical side, they would be a step back.

Step back from what? A middle sized autonomous airship carrying one container, would be a huge step up from semi trucks, as it would be 2-3 times faster would not cause damage to roads, could be used in places where there are no good roads, and if thin film perovskite solar cells become reality would generate the energy needed for its flight by itself.

A standard 6m shipping container has a maximum gross weight of 30,480kg. The current Zepplin NT craft have a payload of 1,900kg and are 75m long. So it seems that quite a substantial airship might be required, e.g. a modern version of the 240m long "Hindenburg" would be able to deliver a shipping container, given that [1] quotes it as having about 20,000kg of payload capacity (including crew, passengers, food) but allowing for further weight savings with modern aero engines, etc.

[1] https://medium.com/@Jernfrost/calculating-lifting-capacity-o...

They state the dimensions in the OP: a mile and a half long at altitude, 10 times larger than the Hindenburg, payload of 20,000 tons. No, not 20,000 pounds - tons.

That's the "replace a freighter" model - I was commenting on the parent's "replace a road truck", which seems like a poorer return: since any Zeppelin is going to be inconveniently large may as well go for broke.

Yep, it only makes sense economically (and physically) if it is big enough to carry a few dozen shipping containers.

One of the new Zeppelin firms is right beside the Friedrichshafen airport, and part (all?) of their business is scenic flights. There's certainly a frisson watching a zeppelin rise into the winter sunshine with the Swiss Alps behind it; made the RyanAir flight I was waiting for seem more than usually tame.

Tame, but also quick, cheap, and safe. I'm glad I'm not an investor in such a firm, but also quietly glad that others are.

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