[alwaysanagenda]

how large can you scale electric airplanes with hyper-dense battery cells?

I would imagine hitting the weight limit of traditional aircraft very quickly to get the same output of power.

oil's energy per square inch still can't be beat.

[colechristensen]

It boils down to getting less range for a given payload for any given aircraft. You can exchange less payload for more range until you have nothing but pilots.

It seems to get equivalent power you need to either exchange a third or so of your range or a significant portion of cargo or a mixture of both.

Hydrocarbons do indeed have significantly more energy density and the benefit that once you’ve used them the weight of the fuel goes away giving you less work to do as your fuel runs out.