Electric cars. Electric trucks. Yeah, we’ve seen them. Even some self-driving versions of the vehicles.

But, here’s a new idea. Electric planes. But, with a special twist.
We won’t be seeing them flying from New York to LA. Or, from Boston to London. But, what about DC to New York? Or New York to Boston? LA to San Francisco? Yes, those heavily traveled routes, the ones that used to bring huge profits to the airlines back before 9-11, before Homeland Security (I always think of Ranger Smith, the officious- but useless- ranger on “Yogi Bear”) whose clearance times considerably exceeds the time of flight,  rendered such routes less than useful.

Consider further that some 97% of all air passengers use about 100 US airports; the other 3% land at the rest of the 4900 airports within the US.

The goal here is to use airports that bypass Ranger Smith- oops, I mean Homeland Security- and board an electric plane, as we  carry our luggage on-board and reach our destination. Oh, and you’ll love this- fares of about $ 25 to $ 35 bucks. Making the concept competitive with Amtrak or those ‘Chinatown’ buses.

How, you say? Well, first, let’s consider the engine concept. It’s akin to what Chevy did to create its Volt. A small generator, running off conventional fuel, charges the battery and keeps the car moving. The same concept was planned for Zunum , along with ducted fan jets to propel the plane. (It won’t use gas, though- it’s a jet fuel-burning turbine that provides the backup. Unfortunately, since I wrote this blog, they ran our of money!)

Oh, given that these will be very small engines (and small planes- carrying 10 to 50 passengers), there won’t be noise complaints from the citizenry where they will fly. (Wow! I remember when I could fly into DC National Airport at 2 AM. Now, the curfew cuts in hours before.) Moreover, the emissions created by these flights will be about 20% of those of conventional planes.

The planes will use battery-powered engines that are good for about 175 miles (now you understand why the routes were chosen), with jet turbine backups good for about 500 more for safety.

Zunum, headquartered in Washington state, is funded with seed capital from Boeing (Horizon X venture division) and the venture division of Jet Blue Airline. And, Zunum is working with the University of Illinois to develop special batteries to perfect its concept. Drs. Ashish Kumar (Cornell) and Matt Knapp (MIT SM) are the founders of this airline company, along with Dr. Kiruba Haran (who also happens to be a professor at the University of Illinois)

The goal is to divert passengers from traveling though those hubs the airlines relish. And, given the bypassed security brouhaha, the real travel time (the time between when we leave home and when we get where we are going) will be cut by multiples. And, these flights might convince folks like me to not drive my car on that 200, 300, 400, or even 500 mile trip, given the right tariff. (Right now, 61% of those traveling 500 and 750 miles drive; 34% fly; when the distance ups by another 250 miles, more than half fly- but 42% still drive.)

Why can Zunum passengers bypass security? Because Homeland Security imposes way fewer regulations for carriers flying smaller aircraft. And, since Zunum is not going to be checking any luggage, the flights won’t need a lot of ground handling. (Think of the ease of using the Eastern Shuttle back in the day. Walk right up to the gate, board the plane, and hand the stewardess (there weren’t stewards then) your credit card to pay your tariff.)

But, don’t get too excited… Zunum  won’t be flying for 5 to 10 years, yet.

A lot can change between now and then.

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