Will Fusion Power Finally Clean Up Military Aircraft? – CleanTechnica

Cutting back on fossil fuels is hard enough for ground transportation. Electric cars and trucks are more expensive than their ICE counterparts, and even if the TCO is lower, that doesn’t make it any easier to get approved for a higher payment. Even the EV heavyweights like Tesla are struggling to electrify long-haul trucking. But, these challenges are mostly related to the cost of batteries and the cost of infrastructure now. The technology has been proven out.

Changes are also happening with aviation. Efficient planes, small planes, and short-range VTOL are all somewhat easy to electrify. But, when the planes get bigger, everybody starts talking about hydrogen. There comes a point where the energy density is just too low to not have the plane be a battery hauler instead of a people or cargo hauler. And supersonic flight? That’s not happening with batteries or hydrogen any time soon because the energy needs to sustain that are just too crazy.

But, some military patents and other information that’s been surmised shows us that the military may end up pioneering fusion transportation. Not only is it the best way for militaries to electrify fast, fast planes, but the other advantages will make economic sense for militaries before it makes sense for civilian vehicles. (video continues after embedded video)