2 Trillion Reasons Why You Should Build an Electric Airplane
Flying has been our biggest environmental sin for three generations, but only recently has the technology become available to fix it.
The purpose of this essay is to encourage you to join the movement and push the electric aviation industry forward.
Flying Quadruples Your Carbon Footprint
If you’re an environmentalist, electric aviation should be your top priority. It’s not much of a stretch to say that flying is our biggest carbon sin. From the New York Times:
For many people reading this, air travel is their most serious environmental sin. One round-trip flight from New York to Europe or to San Francisco creates a warming effect equivalent to 2 or 3 tons of carbon dioxide per person. The average American generates about 19 tons of carbon dioxide a year; the average European, 10.
So if you take five long flights a year, they may well account for three-quarters of the emissions you create. “For many people in New York City, who don’t drive much and live in apartments, this is probably going to be by far the largest part of their carbon footprint,” says Anja Kollmuss, a Zurich-based environmental consultant.
If flying is 75% of your emissions, then flying increases those emissions by 4x.
Further, consider this article from The Guardian that analyzes changes in global mean temperature change associated with various transportation options:
If we focus just on the impact over the next five years, then planes currently account for more global warming than all the cars on the world’s roads — a stark reversal of the usual comparison. Per passenger mile, things are even more marked: flying turns out to be on average 50 times worse than driving in terms of a five-year warming impact.
To repeat, flying does more environmental damage than all the cars around the world do.
And here’s the carbon footprint of one graduate student whose life probably looks similar to that of many people reading this:
Note that flying is 2/3 of his emissions, more than eating or heating.
Aviation emit 781 million tonnes of CO2 per year today. By 2050 that number will be 2 trillion, or higher. Now is the time to reverse the trend.
Electric Aviation
Last summer a few friends and I read a brilliant book by Tony Seba called Clean Disruption. (Disclosure: Tony is an advisor.) Clean Disruption discusses the ways clean energy and electric vehicles have been reshaping the energy landscape. We started thinking: Tesla was founded back in 2003 and only really became a household name in 2012 with the Model S. It’s going to take an airplane company just as long, if not longer. We have to get started!
So we started looking into the underlying science. Batteries are the Achilles Heel. Ultimately we need to make Boeing-sized planes in order to really reduce emissions, but we have to start somewhere. We found a market that works with today’s batteries: 9-seat “puddle jumpers”.
9-Seater “Puddle Jumpers”
It turns out there’s a small but robust market for small 9-seater airplanes flying short distances. Typical flights are Boston-Nantucket and Hawaiian Islands. It’s perfect for our entry market.
The reason these planes can be electric is because they fly short routes. It’s the same story as electric cars: an electric car can only go 50 miles, but a typical commute is less than 50 miles. An electric car with a 50 mile range is still fine for millions of customers.
In the case of “puddle jumpers”, 70% of their routes are < 300 miles. This means we can make a hybrid-electric plane for them using today’s batteries. And NASA’s been funding research that suggests hybrid planes would dramatically decrease their operating costs, not to mention lower their emissions substantially. Cool!
Here’s data on Cape Air’s typical routes:
Note that all of their flights are less than 225 miles.
And here’s information about how an electric plane could reduce its operating costs (DEP = NASA acronym for one category of electric planes):
If you’d like to learn more, check out this fantastic paper from Joby and NASA.
To this end we formed a startup company called Wright Electric, and our first plane will be a hybrid-electric 9-seater optimized for Cape Air. In the future we’ll make other planes as technology improves. Our goal is eventually to make a hybrid-electric plane to replace Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’ A320.
We Need You
Our team at Wright Electric is comprised of a former Cessna senior exec and the FAA’s retired head of engine certification, along with a group of grizzled experimental airplane builders.
We’re recruiting folks to join the movement, especially people with experience building powertrains. We’re using multiple 200 kW motors in parallel and a 250 kWh battery pack, which will be among the largest aviation-specific electric propulsion systems in the world, and we need your help.
There’s a story that Google likes to tell. Larry Page was upset by the low quality of its ads. He posted in the cafeteria a printout of the search results for a Kawasaki H1B motorcycle; there were ads for lawyers who would help with an H-1B visa.
By Monday morning, five engineers who weren’t even on the advertising team had, acting on their own, devised a software solution to the problem — a solution that proved to be worth billions of dollars.
These are the sort of people we’re seeking. Feel free to reach out at jeff@flywright.aero if you know anyone who might fit the bill.
Conclusion
In summary, we’re starting an electric airplane company to reduce aviation emissions. We’re looking for people to join us. Please reach out. And if you know someone who might be a fit, please feel free to pass along this essay to them. Thank you.
