Fuel Cells are doomed for flight - the potential simply is not there to create enough chemical energy for sustained high power.
On the other hand, other developments continue in power storage. EEstor recently announced a
partnership with Lockheed-Martin, a company notoriously conservative in embracing unproven technologies. They also claim they will be providing EESUs (EEStor Storage Units) for highway capable cars by next year.
MIT recently announced laboratory success in the lab with
nanowire batteries. From the lab to the field is just an engineering challenge, and I think recent years have demonstrated that such feats are certainties rather than wish-ware.
To get the most out of stored energy, we will need inexpensive motors. Currently, high-performance motors require rare earths almost entirely dependent on scarce materials imported from China. An American company,
Raser Technologies, has developed a way to get high-efficiency compact power out of a variation of traditional AC induction motors requiring no exotic materials. Going electric also offers a unique opportunity to reverse-engineer our single engine aircraft into multi-engine configurations (sharing a single prop, true). Motor weight is comparable to the dry weight of current aircraft engines; however, note that electric motors may be run continuously at 100% rated power; have no power loss with altitude; and require no accessories (save perhaps a PSRU to match prop speed to optimal propeller rotation). Thus, at 12,500' an electric motor of identical "rated power" would actually provide 50% more continuous power than a normally aspirated motor. No firewall would be necessary, almost no cooling would be needed (so cowlings can be more streamlined), and there would be no possibility of Carbon Monoxide poisoning.
This is no longer a "someday" scenario, and the only question I have is whether I'll be able to get anything back from the value of my Lycosaurus when I convert...
Interesting Boeing News statement
Linear Mode
