Originally Posted by
AdamFrisch
Well, I think it's unfair to immediately demand higher speed, less cost, more endurance from this new technology out of the gate. Of course it will take many years, just like it took 100 years of combustion technology to get to here (well, if you're Lyco or Conti, just 50 years, as nothing has happened to their engines since then...). And in the meantime, we'll probably see many bridging hybrid solutions.
Electric will of course first start in easier applications - such as self launching gliders. There it already makes much more sense than anything else. After that it will be local training aircraft that depart and return to the same airfield, probably with exchangeable fuel cells for speed. What's wrong with cheaper flight instruction?
Once again, you just have to look at hybrid cars - 10 years ago it was something nobody wanted. Now show me a single manufacturer who hasn't got some kind of hybrid in the works? Even Ferrari and Koenigsegg have them in the development...
I think you hit the nail on the head.
Any new technology is not going to be perfect right off the bat. Cars made huge changes in their first 100 years. Computers made huge changes in their first 50 years. Airplanes made huge changes in their first 100 years. Television... Trains... Wind Turbines... Solar Cells... Jet Propulsion... Elevators... Etc...
New technologies take time to grow and improve from the initial concept/prototype phase, but without a first step you get nowhere.