The excellent MIT Technology Review has a piece casting doubt on the ability of battery-electric aircraft, such as the ES-19 developed by Heart Aerospace, to fly for any significant amount of time.
The reason is due to the same issue identified again and again – the battery weight / power problem.
According to analyst Jayant Mukhopadhaya from the International Council for Clean Transportation (ICCT), “We were surprised by how terrible the range was, frankly.”
In fact, it was as recently as 2020 that the first electric aircraft was certified by EASA.
This is the Pipistrel Veilis Electro, which has room for one passenger and can fly for about 50 minutes. As a result, it would seem reasonable to question whether 19 seat electric commuter aircraft really will be flying by 2026.
However there are a number of points that can be made in response.
First of all, battery technology