this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2023
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Electric airplanes don't exist, and making one long distance while still being fast isn't feasible with current battery technology. Battery technology is rapidly advancing though.
And yet, China has already made enough high speed rail to go fully across the United States 10 times, East to West. (Which is predicted to increase to 16.5 US widths (43k miles), in 12 years!)
https://partsolutions.com/engineering-an-electric-jet-engine/
Electric jet turbines exist, this dude just followed the designs that MIT made. They just need investment, and aren't cheaper than jet fuel.
Also China has laid a lot of rail on their east coast. You'll notice that they aren't laying high speed rail into the center or western portions of China, but then authoritarian countries can do infrastructure projects easier than democratic countries.
I actually watched that video when it came out. You misunderstand how it works, it actually burns butane gas and produces carbon dioxide. The reason he calls it electric is that it uses a fan instead of a turbine to speed up the air before the combustion.
The reason why we can't make electric planes isn't because we don't have the engines, its because batteries are just too heavy to fit on something that needs such light weight and high energy.
And if you want to know the real reason why China can make so much rail, RM Transit on Youtube has some great videos on the topic, iirc it was mainly because other countries contract way too much out, work at very small scales, and stop and start construction often, preventing skill and momentum from building up. And in the U.S. general just bad management is another big factor.