The electric-plane future is about to take off

The electric-plane future is about to take off

Benjamin Hughes

For years, you’ve been able to watch cool-looking electric-plane videos on YouTube, created by some of the 300 companies who are working on them. But Beta Technologies, in Burlington, Vermont, is unique: “I believe we’re the only company flying people,” said Beta’s CEO and founder Kyle Clark. His company’s electric plane can carry six people, and flies 250 miles on one charge.

“Every year, batteries get better and better, about seven percent per year,” he said. “That means in seven years we’ll double that. And another seven years, we’ll double that again.”

He believes that, in the-not-distant future, we will be flying on electric-powered jetliners.

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An electric-powered plane from Beta Technologies. 

CBS News


Traditional airplanes pump out about a billion tons of carbon dioxide every year. Electric planes produce no emissions at all, and that’s only their first advantage.

David Pogue

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David Pogue is a six-time Emmy winner for his stories on “CBS Sunday Morning,” where he’s been a correspondent since 2002. Pogue hosts the CBS News podcast “Unsung Science.” He’s also a New York Times bestselling author, a five-time TED speaker, and host of 20 NOVA science specials on PBS. For 13 years, he wrote a New York Times tech column every week – and for 10 years, a Scientific American column every month.

Source: cbsnews.com