Range-Dependent Takeoff Distance Comparison of Electric vs Conventional Aircraft
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: This paper builds a range-driven model that links required mission range to battery or fuel mass, total aircraft mass, and ultimately takeoff runway distance, and applies it to the NASA X-57 Maxwell Mod IV, which uses distributed electric propulsion (DEP), and the conventional Tecnam P2006T. It finds that the X-57’s DEP takeoff advantage disappears at roughly 59 nm, because the low specific energy of batteries makes the X-57’s mass, and therefore its takeoff distance, grow much faster than the P2006T’s when varying the mission range. The crossover depends on several estimated inputs, ranging from about 2 to 122 nm across the cases tested.
Authors: Ramchandani, Shaan, Patel, Yogi
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7221765745
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