Elon Musk actually stated his idea for an electric jet in his cameo appearance on Iron Man 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuG2AVFB-g0
Musk was also the inspiration behind the characterisation of Robert Downey Jr in the Iron Man films.
Musk was also the inspiration behind the characterisation of Robert Downey Jr in the Iron Man films.
A fully-fueled 747 weighs something like 5x an empty 747 so you might get some real efficiencies from not having any at all. Plus, this would give all those solar and windfarms in (literal) flyover country a nice place to sell their power without running lines.
You can launch with a sled or some crazy version of an extension cord.
A fully-fueled 747 weighs something like 5x an empty 747 so you might get some real efficiencies from not having any at all.
That would be frickin amazing. For cargo flights, especially. Something like that could reduce the cost of air freight by a huge factor.
An electric jet would work by removing the turbine and having an electric motor in place. Or possibly around the edges.
This sort of design is called a ducted fan, It'd be more efficient through smaller losses and probably a smaller drag (less flat plate area).