Comments on: Heaviside can take advantage of slim and low-drag aerodynamic forms that are just not practical on cars

By: Sam J.

Sam J. — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 00:23:45 +0000

TRX says,”…two standard rooftop solar panels could provide the power for the average (16 mile) commute.” In plain English, that is known as “a damned lie.””

Maybe not. Two panels, 200watts x 12 hours is 2400watt/hours and their consumption is 120Wh per passenger mile. So it’s within reason.

By: Sam J.

Sam J. — Sun, 31 May 2020 23:53:01 +0000

I’m very pro electric cars, planes, whatever because it gives the US energy autonomy and it gives, over time, freedom from energy Oligarchies and combines. Eventually solar will be extremely cheap. It won’t happen overnight but there are several technologies that can vastly reduce the price. There are also carbon based batteries that will also be very cheap. When you have these you will be free of the monopolist structures built up to control you.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Sun, 31 May 2020 07:45:24 +0000

It looks like a fair weather airplane, which to be fair almost all airplanes are. And I bet it gives off too much radio noise to be useful for sneaky military stuff. But it’s PRETTY and I LOVE IT.

By: Isegoria

Isegoria — Sat, 30 May 2020 17:31:32 +0000

The Heaviside is 100 times quieter than a helicopter.

By: Peter Whitaker

Peter Whitaker — Sat, 30 May 2020 17:20:21 +0000

The biggest limitation of electric aircraft is noise. Any aircraft capable of carrying a person will inevitably be extremely noisy.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 29 May 2020 07:06:37 +0000

Cars maintain that 10m spacing on a two-dimensional surface, most of which isn’t road. Even if aircraft are required to maintain 100m spacing, we still won’t ever run out of sky.

By: Lucklucky

Lucklucky — Fri, 29 May 2020 04:33:29 +0000

“VTOL means freedom from traffic congestion, forever. There is simply no way that people who populate a two-dimensional surface could ever saturate a three-dimensional airspace. We couldn’t maintain one-mile separation between aircraft like today, but with good collision-avoidance software, we wouldn’t have to.”

In a car you can stay 10m from another vehicle.

By: Huey Pierce Long, Jr.

Huey Pierce Long, Jr. — Fri, 29 May 2020 00:32:15 +0000

1. Glide

2. Slope

By: Freddo

Freddo — Thu, 28 May 2020 20:19:04 +0000

Ha, we have been here before: https://www.isegoria.net/2019/10/go-anywhere-and-land-anywhere-quickly-and-quietly/

In my opinion the requirements of all-weather capability and crash resistance (esp. with human cargo) will favor road transport for a long time. However, with the rapid advances in drone technology and self-driving AI it may already be viable as a rich people toy. Avoiding travel lockdowns in a future quarantine situation (even if only by a couple of hours) may be an interesting sales pitch.

By: TRX

TRX — Thu, 28 May 2020 17:44:13 +0000

“True, but the article claims two standard rooftop solar panels could provide the power for the average (16 mile) commute.”

In plain English, that is known as “a damned lie.”