Stellantis to build electric airplane with 100 mile range

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/tech...partner-on-electric-aircraft/ar-AA15YaN9

sample quote

The plane, named Midnight, will be able to carry a pilot and four passengers. The aircraft will have a range of of 100 miles (160.9 kilometers), optimally making back-to-back trips of around 20 miles, with a charging time of about 10 minutes in-between.

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give your suggested names to replace “Midnight” which implies scary to me

Doctor Killer 2.0

Just think. All those dummies sitting in gas stations with dead Teslas would be in a smoking hole in the ground instead.

pics

https://archer.com/

100 mile range is useless.

20 mile trips? For what? be easier to just jump in the car and drive.

Most airports are way more than 20 miles apart in the middle of the country unless you count those dirt road airports the crop duster guys use. This may be great on the east coast, where everyone is condensed together, but it won't fly here (pun intended).

They have flights here from Boise to the far east side of the state, but they are not direct so it's easier to rent a car and drive it. Also, when you get off the plane you still need a rental car anyways.

Hell Crater.

Like a Hell Cat, but with more of an impact.

All those pregnant women and the children in sandals are definitely gonna stay busy working the mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to make all those environment saving batteries.

One Way seems appropriate?

Maybe they could advertise to end your fear of flying PERMANENTLY

I owned and flew a 1960 piper Comanche 250 HP 4 seater airplane( it would seat three kids in the back seat and two adults up front) for 15 over years, it would cruise at 185 MPH at or above 6500 ft above sea level, that is a tiny bit over 3 miles per minute. Take off and climb was from 75 MPH up to 120 MPH depending how fast I wanted to get to my cruising altitude, the higher I flew it the better the fuel mileage was, 17 GPH at 6500 Ft and 9.6 GPH at 12,000 ft.. + The higher I flew it the better the ride was also as well as less traffic, go high, always
My point is 100 miles isn't very far at flying speeds, the little trainer airplanes are around 100 MPH max, great for building flying time and not fast enough to get you hurt in a hurry when training and learning how to fly them Not so good for getting where you want to go in a decent time

I have a Nissan Leaf with a range of 70 miles. It drops significantly when its really hot or really could outside, or when I drive on the highway. "Range anxiety" is real, but my worst case scenario is I get stuck on the side of the road and ponder how to get to my destination. I can't imagine worrying about falling out of the sky when the battery gets empty because it got cold or you had to wait for a landing spot to open up. A sport bike sounds like a safer option.

70 mile range? That wouldn't even get me to the grocery store and back.

As for the plane, it's a vertical take off and landing aircraft so you could set it down in many places. It's cool in a high tech sort of way, but doesn't really seem too practical, but I guess you have to start somewhere.

And what happens in flight when the temp drops and the battery pack life is suddenly chopped?

No thanks.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we will be beginning our descent. Unfortunately we are a bit short of the airport so if anyone sees a cornfield, please alert the flight crew."

For some people the "fun factor" overrides practicality.

https://www.kitplanes.com/turned-on-we-fly-an-electric-xenos/

There is an interesting read in the Feb '23 Motor Trend of their long term test of the Rivian R1T. Guy takes is camping to an area with ZERO chargers. Little did he realize how much the battery capacity drops just sitting still, doing nothing, in a cold environment. He then enters the quasi-panic mode by the third day realizing that he has to get it somewhere to get a charge...somehow these folks seem to think that having to completely plan EVERYTHING makes sense in your life simply because you chose to drive a "green" vehicle that has severe limitations all while paying $100K for the benefit of being able to parade among your friends and tout how "green" you are.

Quite true!

It's one thing to be stranded on the side of the road because the battery in your EV dies. It's an entirely different game when you're in the air and it dies.

When the battery dies, you die.

I MIGHT have an electric motor in a glider to get around, when the battery dies (ain’t that an appropriate word) I could glide for awhile to find the perfect crash site. Maybe they get electric parachutes too.

Call Acme!

MEEP MEEP !!

I think "dive bomber" or "swan diver" would be appropriate. And the short distance planes are used a lot in vacation islands so the people can get a good look at them and travel to the next island. I guess it's a matter of time before we have electric boats. Stranded out at sea is better than someone having to ID the body parts.

the Beechcraft V tail Bonanza airplanes are called "Forked Tail Doctor Killers" due to the number of medical Doctors kill in them when they would start the decant to land after a cross country trip and forget to not pull the throttles back enough to slow those airplanes down and descend, they would accelerate fast enough pointed downhill to make the V tails start vibrating and oscillating badly enough to completely knock the tails completely off of those airplanes
All certified aircraft have a Velocity Never Exceed, VNE speed to help the pilots and crews avoid damaging the air frames from going too fast downhill or in rough weather. All The Bonanza made would exceed the VNE very easily pointed down hill at full throttle

In the 1950s the USA had programs to create Nuclear power units to power Bombers and recognizance planes.

As we speak Russian scientists are dying while testing prototypes trying to create a nuclear powered/nuclear bomb tipped cruise missile that could cruise for weeks in the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth before a final “Southern Surprise” attack on the USA or Europe.

A plane like the Stellantis Midnight would be far more versatile if it had a small nuclear power electric generator unit for cruise and a lithium battery for boosting takeoff and climb.

But fission nuclear is politically incorrect as fossil fuels.

Presumably they will be painted in 'high impact' colors?