this post was submitted on 20 May 2024
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Hindenburg had a cruising speed of 131km/h, so solar electric would just be pegged to a lower top speed assuming we didn't touch any other parts of the design.
I think efficiency gains in propeller tech, changes in crew and gear requirements, structural materials, and the rest of it would make it feasible.
Then we have to ask about alternatives. French TGV trains output about 10MW, and can carry over 600 passengers. Three of the solar arrays for these hypothetical green Hindenburgs would run one train, and you're not stuck with shitty thin film panels. The trains will move twice as many people.
If we're talking cargo trains, those max out around 3MW, so just one of these solar Hindenburgs. They will carry far, far more cargo.
Things like propeller efficiency also apply to airplanes.
So we're still stuck where things were going when Hindenburg burned away. Other things were surpassing it, they also improved in the time since, and there isn't much point beyond novelty.
Well yeah, for large volumes of cargo land or ocean traversal will always be cheaper or faster.
If the infrastructure exists, anyway.
A completely solar electric train would be awesome