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by tjmc 106 days ago
Looking forward to seeing solid state batteries for aviation, but the scary part is that they get heavier when they discharge as oxygen from the air turns into solid oxide.
1 comments

Isn't that good for aviation? Makes it relatively less expensive to carry reserve energy you don't expect to use, don't have to pay the weight cost during takeoff when weight costs the most energy because you just charged the battery and once you're at cruising speed more weight is just neutral momentum.

Probably the least convenient thing would be if you had to land and take off again somewhere without recharging.

> Probably the least convenient thing would be if you had to land and take off again somewhere without recharging.

...or... go around?

Except you started with 1500 miles of charge for a 200 mile flight because "fully charged" weighs less.

If you're up there waiting for a long time you don't have to fly in a tight circle at a high speed.

The issue is maximum take off weight. Presumably the discharged battery weight would be the one you use in the pre-flight MTOW calculations, because the worse case scenario is one where you're landing an almost discharged battery and have to go around.
Yes, this was exactly my thought; maybe I needed to state it more clearly.