This doesn't seem right to me as it goes against my intuitive sense of how other factors generally scale with size/weight/volume (e.g. rocket equation), but I admit I'm definitely not an expert. However Wikipedia claims [1] that 250-300 Wh/kg is sufficient for small aircraft but something the size of an Airbus 320 would need 2 kWh/kg. A random recent paper about scaling electric aircraft [2] seems to imply that there are challenges to scaling size as well:
> All-electric designs have been demonstrated for small air vehicles. However, such prototypes have not been scaled up to more than ten passengers due to the specific energy (E*) limitations of current battery technology. [...] A significant proportion of the energy expenditure would be used to transport the mass of the batteries; this mass would not decrease during a flight as would that of conventional fuel.
Are these sources wrong, or too simplistic in their analysis, or am I misinterpreting what they're saying?
The rocket equation, or its airplane cousin the Breguet range equation talk about ratios of mass, not absolute mass. These larger airplanes (eg an A320) often fly much faster and longer distances
> All-electric designs have been demonstrated for small air vehicles. However, such prototypes have not been scaled up to more than ten passengers due to the specific energy (E*) limitations of current battery technology. [...] A significant proportion of the energy expenditure would be used to transport the mass of the batteries; this mass would not decrease during a flight as would that of conventional fuel.
Are these sources wrong, or too simplistic in their analysis, or am I misinterpreting what they're saying?
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_aircraft#Batteries
[2]: Structural Power Performance Targets for Future Electric Aircraft - https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/19/6006