[crossroadsguy]

Will one of the benefits be absence of copious amounts of highly inflammable liquid on it in the event of crashes?

[tacostakohashi]

No, lithium batteries are explosive. If anything, the fire hazard is probably worse.

https://www.popsci.com/story/technology/electric-vehicle-bat...

[hellbannedguy]

Yea, they can drop fuel if they know there will be a problem.

[LinuxBender]

vs. ejecting batteries turns the aircraft into a bomber. The Air Force drop fuel tanks from some aircraft but I have no idea how much trouble they get into for doing that. [1][2]

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZfjyVbcJDI [video]

[2] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXEyETZU8ag [video]

[damsta]

Won't batteries be a problem now?

[zinekeller]

Good point. The Dreamliner has such problems in its Li-ion batteries to the point that the weight savings due to composite construction was subsequently nullified by metal retrofits to contain battery fires (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner_battery_...). Additionally, IATA has put strict limits on Li-ion cargo due to Lithium being too reactive, so any plane with Lithium batteries must consider that.

[mastax]

It negated the benefits of the lighter batteries, not the benefit of the composite airframe.

[tokai]

Probably even worse, as fuel can be dumped.

[ThePadawan]

Isn't fuel generally only dumped because landing a (nearly) fully fueled plane exceeds the maximum landing weight of the runway?

Or alternatively, if a plane develops a leak in one of the tanks, it can dump fuel to balance the weight.

Is there a scenario where a plane in flight has its fuel on fire and dumping said fuel helps in any way?

[gameswithgo]

you can dump batteries too

[5555624]

That could be more of a problem. Regardless of the height, dumping a battery means a projectile falling, which could injure someone or cause property damage.

If fuel is dumped high enough, it pretty much evaporates and doesn't fall to the ground. If the plane is low when it dumps fuel, it can hit the ground and bystanders; but, it's not going do much, if any damage. (Assuming it doesn't hit someones barbecue or a smoker.)

[GravitasFailure]

Don't forget that lithium batteries tend to burst into flames if you hit them hard enough. Dumping your batteries can too easily become a bombing run.

Also, Jet-A doesn't burst into flames like gasoline. Even if you soak an area with it, you don't have a firestorm just waiting to blow up.

[iSnow]

Not really, imagine a troubled plane bombing a city with huge and explosive battery packs.

[aeternum]

Batteries could be used as part of the structure itself (similar to the transition we made from separate fuel tanks to simply putting fuel in the wings). That saves a lot of weight.