this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2026
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I hadn't considered it before, but China pivoting to electric propulsion for aircraft makes a lot of sense. China is far behind leading nations with regard to jet engine manufacturing and large scale manufacturing of single crystal blades for high bypass turbofan engines.
However, China is far ahead of the rest of the world with mass production of high capacity battery technology. Additionally they have significant high performance electric motor design and manufacturing capabilities. If they put these two mature systems into developing electric aircraft engines, they'll likely achieve results before anyone else in the world.
Couple this with China's lack of fossil fuels and significant investments in wind, solar, and extremely high voltage long distance transmission, it could do very well to serve China's domestic air cargo needs at a fraction of today's cost.
imagine if we all worked together
If we did, its possible we might actually accomplish less actually. Frequently competition drives innovation. Its just how humans are wired, and I'm not sure we can do anything about that.
Edit: I see we have doubting downvoters. Why did the USA land on the Moon in 1969? Because they suddenly wanted to? No, because the Soviet Union was the first to space and first human in space. After the Apollo program ended in in 1972, how many times did we land on the moon? Zero. How any times did the Soviet Union land on the moon after the USA did? Zero.
Suddenly in 2005 the USA started to get interest in going to the moon again for the first time since 1972. The first Chinese astronaut made it to space in 2003. Is that coincidence? Currently the USA is trying to get back to a moon landing by early 2008 (they're not going to make it then). China is scheduled for their first moon landing in 2030.
For giant leaps forward, humanity appears to need conflict and competition.
China isnt leading this.
Canada has been flying electric commercial aircraft for 7 years now