Retired, I summer near Oshkosh half of the year. Last weekend, I made a quick “checkup” trip up there. I rented a Toyota Corolla in Milwaukee for the four day weekend. The thing sipped gas getting ~ 45mpg in mixed driving. I had a stop to make in Oshkosh where the only Tesla Supercharging stations in the area are located. After dark, I noticed three of the six stations with Tesla’s plugged in so I went over and talked to one of the users. He told me that he goes there after hours because he’s assured of a spot and has no other way to charge his car. So he pays big bucks to have an electric car and then has to waste time in the evening charging his car. Wonderful. But – hey – he’s saving the planet, right … no hydrocarbons are used to generate that electricity, right? Maybe THAT is why Elon shot HIS Tesla into outer space?
Moving backward to airplanes and Mark F’s appropriate comment … why can’t a super efficient turboprop be mounted in the airplane – much like the Toyota example above – so everyone can live happily ever after. And there’s another issue no one talks about. Reliability of ANY system is directly proportional to the parts count within the systems. I concede that – generally – an electric motor is more reliable than an internal combustion engine BUT … with a 402hp piston engine plus three electric engines plus all the ancillary electronics … can that thing fly if one of the wing mounted motors or controllers fails? If not … it’s a piece of junk. And a 337 isn’t exactly one of the most aerodynamically efficient airplanes, either. And – oh by the way – what’s happened to the electric Beaver up in Washington? Maybe George Bye is working on it?
There are SO many things wrong with this idea that my head is about to explode.