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@floheinstein@chaos.social
2026-02-15 10:26:28

I am currently sitting in the Helsinki Library Oodi, and the plane that should take me from Helsinki to Copenhagen and Zurich (yes, the same plane) hasn't left Munich yet, it's delayed 1.5 hours. And it still needs to fly to Copenhagen and then Helsinki!
...
I think I'll get another book... #airtravel

@chris@mstdn.chrisalemany.ca
2026-04-16 21:07:20

also found this excellent article about the motor developer, MagniX. It has some great technical info, delving into just how much more efficient the electric motors are compared to the piston and turboprop engines that they are replacing.
“a single magni500 Electric Propulsion Unit [the engine, inverter and cables], which weighs 185 kg… produces up to 560 kW. By comparison, the Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior SB engine replaced in the eBeaver weighed 290 kg (not including oil) and produced just 300 kW.”
#BC #AirTravel #ClimateAction #ClimateChange #EndFossilFuels

@chris@mstdn.chrisalemany.ca
2026-04-16 19:37:05

Relevant to today's hand-wringing about jet fuel costs:
I was trolling around looking for an update on Harbour Air's eBeaver project (electric conversion for their DHC-2 "Beaver" commercial/passenger fleet) and the latest I have found and most comprehensive on the state of development is here.
#BC #AirTravel #ClimateAction #ClimateChange #EndFossilFuels

@chris@mstdn.chrisalemany.ca
2026-04-16 21:41:46

the engineering article about the motors is super in depth, some of it way over my head, but they also compare the development of EV cars to planes and I get this... at least now... because it didn't occur to me:
Regeneration is great for cars!
Regeneration is a BIG NO for airplanes! Because if you glide and the propeller to regenerate power, you fall out of the sky. 😬 😂
so ya, none of that!
"Critically, one area the company worked hard on reducing was regeneration. At no point during flight, as well as descent, can the plane simply carry on under its own momentum while air drives the propellers to generate current. That would create a large amount of drag, and the plane would start to fall rapidly.
“Maybe a glider or UAV could do that, but not a passenger aircraft,” Armesmith says. “There are rules against it in aerospace, so we have to actively stop regeneration from being possible, it’s a fault we have to arrest,” Armesmith says.
“So, if we’ve either lost power or had to turn the motor off for any reason, the propeller needs to be able to windmill freely. We can’t have any electromagnetic resistance to the propeller free-turning owing to regeneration back into the DC bus.”
ya... glide good! fall bad! lol
I am very glad these very smart people are making it happen and a local company is right in there!!
#BC #AirTravel #ClimateAction #ClimateChange #EndFossilFuels

@chris@mstdn.chrisalemany.ca
2026-04-10 17:56:58

European Night Train rail renaissance in 3-2-1?
#StraitsOfHormuz #EndFossilFuels #Train #Rail #EURail #EU #AirTravel
bbc.com/news/articles/c3w37ggp