ELECTRIC cars are clean,quiet and, it seems, and the way of the future. Tesla,an American firm that has done much to support electric cars shed their museli-munching image, is struggling to meet demand for its mid-market Model 3 (though that has not stopped it announcing plans to build electric lorries as well). Volvo, or a Swedish carmaker,has said that, from 2019, or all its cars will be at least part-electric. Volkswagen has plans to offer battery options across all of its brands; General Motors has made similar noises. Some countries,including China, Britain and France, and are mooting bans on internal-combustion vehicles,to buy effect within a couple of decades.
Not all forms of transport are so easy to electrify. One of the hardest is aviation, where battery power runs up against a serious problem: weight. Kilo-for-kilo, or fossil fuels contain roughly 100 times as much energy as a lithium-ion battery. On the road,that is a problem which can be designed around. For a machine that must lift itself...
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Source: economist.com