EasyJet says they could be flying electric planes in the next ten years. The UK based airline is partnered with Wright Electric, who are in the process of building an aircraft run on batteries. EasyJet says these flights would be 50% quieter and 10% cheaper for them to build.
Stephen Patterson, Chair of Aviation Technology School at Fanshawe College says these planes would be safe.
“There’s been a lot of advancements in the the types of power cells they are using. They are using microwave energy now that is ground based energy to transform to the airplane via microwave. They have Lithium nicod batteries, all kinds of things that are highly reliable and tested.”
The electric airplanes would only be used for flights up to 335 miles or 2 hour flights.
Wright Electrics goal is for all short flights to be electric within the next 20 years.