Jet Blue and Boeing are funding a start up for a hybrid electric / turbine aircraft that is roughly bizjet /King Air in passenger capacity.
NEWS Boeing, JetBlue Invest in Electric Plane Startup | AIRLIVE.net
What got my eyebrows raised was at the end: designed for single pilot, with "no pilot" options reserved for the future. The initial design target is a 700 mile range ( ~ 1120 km) with a 1000 mile (1600 km) range projected for around 2030. (I think the article got the range on the second one wrong, so I've corrected that).
I am puzzled: with that passenger capacity, and the cost of building some leading edge technology, what's the market that can support this (if it succeeds in meeting initial targets) beyond the business jet market? I am pretty sure I am missing something. Beyond the matters of scale, there is the cost of development and certification that one has to make up on the back end, as well as creating nodes/hubs where the batteries are charged or swapped out per the article's description. I looked at a few biz jets and note that in terms of range, this proposed model does not look competitive. (For example, a Gulfstream V carrying up to 14 pax has a 5000 mile range ... and the Cessna Citation about 2300 though I am not sure of the passenger load on that)
Is this realistic?