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- Brent
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The limiting factor with battery powered time-of-flight is chemistry. Battery technology relies on chemical energy storage (in simplistic terms) and there is no foreseeable way to significantly improve battery storage. If anyone tells you otherwise, ask them to prove it.I find it interesting what is being discussed without talking about drones becoming the main mode of transportation. Electric cars may be a thing but only for a short period of time.
The advantages for using drones for travel and commuting are much higher then what cars can ever have. No longer needing to maintain roads, bridges and other infrastructure could save a lot of money. Yes there would be other new costs but the efficient aspect would be huge. Thinking of electric cars when the Jetsons is probably just as likely to be the next big thing.
Overlooking the impossibility of mining enough material to mobilize the world with EVs (another topic), there is a practical limit in flight for how much lift power can be generated for the weight of the batteries. There is a reason why virtually all drones of all sizes have a flight time of 20-25 minutes because that’s the maximum you can achieve with battery capacity/weight.
So battery powered drones may become an expensive way to commute short distances, but they won’t be as efficient than EVs, which will never be as efficient as ICEs.
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