Originally Posted by
Tourist
A lot of that weight is the frame, in a car the weight is a lower priority.
The solar panels on the aircraft that just flew around the world are pretty light.
The dent in the payload capacity is going to shrink the longer you intend to fly compared to fuel for an engine.
Electric motors are far lighter per watt than IC engines, more reliable and less maintenance.
No matter if it's in a car or a blimp, you still need to physically hold/contain the battery cells, and to make out weight is unimportant to Tesla is laughable.
The plane that went round the world did not have 1+Mw of panels on it, and light as they were, they still weigh something, as will the interconnects, supports, etc.
then we get to the motors, they themselves might be light, they still need to be cooled, that adds significant weight.
then consider just how much electronics/control gear required, it's cooling, weight of wiring, etc etc.
as for reliability, current breed aero engines are hardly unreliable.
I'm not against solar power, just please pick a practical application for it.