posted in Technology
First test flight of largest all-electric aircraft used just $5 of electricity
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/08/first-test-flight-of-largest-all-electric-aircraft-used-just-5-of-electricity/
Every time I hear of an all electric aircraft of any size, I always wonder what they’re going to do about landing weight.
Every modern transport category jet has a higher takeoff weight than landing weight, because of the simple unavoidable fact that landings are rougher than takeoffs. Taking off, the load gradually comes off of the landing gear, on landing it’s suddenly applied. Jets burn tons, literally tons, of fuel enroute, so they’re considerably lighter on approach. It’s why aircraft have dump valves to jettison fuel overboard in case of forced landing early in the flight.
Batteries don’t get lighter as they’re discharged, so…?
The same way we make bigger aircraft with higher landing weights: beefier landing gear and structural reinforcement. Airliners don’t have a lower max landing weight than takeoff because they have to, they do it because it’s cheaper and more efficient. Add some more structural weight and you lose some payload, but if the efficiency gains from fuel cost savings make it worthwhile, then manufacturers will make them.
You’ll hit a point where the payload is so poor it isn’t worth operating.
It’s a bigger deal on bigger aircraft, but on mid-size narrow bodies it’s not as much of a problem. A 737, depending on the model, only has a difference of about 20-30k lbs between MTOW and MLGW and no fuel dump capability. An overweight landing isn’t really a big deal in one, just a quick maintenance inspection. Closing the gap so MTOW and MLGW are equal is doable. It’s hard to overstate how huge of an expense fuel is to an airline, if they have to lose some passengers and cargo they would absolutely do it if it got rid of the fuel expense.
Of course all that is contingent on having batteries with enough energy density to get somewhere close to current MTOWs while having something of a useful range.
That’s true regardless, batteries will never power intercontinental wide-bodies (short some major new developments in battery design). This will probably reduce the maximum aircraft size where batteries remain viable, but they are obviously very viable for short hops in small jets, the point where they cannot compete is somewhere but it’s not “never”, even with this limitation.
That all said, maybe someone will explore just dropping batteries along the way? It sounds ridiculous, but it also sounds like something we have the tech to solve…