NASA’s X-57 Electric Plane Will Never Fly – SlashGear

The concept of a battery-powered aircraft is nothing new, and some have already taken to the skies. Last year, Eviation’s all-electric plane Alice completed a successful maiden test flight. Before that, a seaplane that had been converted to run on electricity, Harbour Air’s De Havilland Beaver, also completed a successful test flight, which was eventually followed up by a successful point-to-point flight three years later.

As with NASA’s X-57, range seems to be a limiting factor at the moment. Alice has a range of between 150 and 250 miles, so it can only be used for very short trips by aviation standards. Still, orders have been flooding in by companies like Cape Air, Global Crossing Airlines, and DHL — all of which are inching towards carbon neutrality. Cape Air alone is aiming to replace 80% of its 400 daily flights with “Alice” flights in the near future.

Aviation is both a necessity in the modern world and a large contributor to global emissions, so there is a major focus on making it greener. Electrification projects, like the ones undertaken by NASA, Eviation, and Harbour Air are vital stepping stones towards sustainable electric flight. Then again, electric motors aren’t the only path to carbon neutrality, and there’s always a chance we could be flying in something very different in the future.