this post was submitted on 07 May 2024
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Electric jets? Is that a thing? How do they work?
Jet is just marketing speak here. It's a bunch of ducted fans.
If it's not generating compression to power itself it's not a jet engine, it's just sparkling ducted fans.
Like electric model airplanes and drones, but larger. Battery energy density is not high enough (yet) to electrify long-haul jumbo jets, but we're beginning to see the electrification of small short-range aircraft.
They're not jets. They're ducted fans. Different things. "Electric jet" makes as much sense as "electric V8 engine".
There is work going on making actual electric jets. They use plasma to expand the compressed gas in the same way conventional jets use fuel. Very early days though.
https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-created-a-fossil-fuel-free-jet-engine-prototype
Hell yeah! They got electric V8's now?! Bout time!