Rodney, Insightful…
I had not thought about it that way. So the limiting factors are: taxes and the electrical infrastructure. TOTALLY MAKES SENSE.
We definitely need to keep an eye out for developments in the electrical grid then…and on our bloody politicians.
This reminds me of Drones…drones have limits too. I am not buying the delivery drone propaganda.
Drones have a limit on lift vs payload…and then, there is the issue of noise pollution…
PAYLOAD: the flight time is DRAMATICALLY reduced on a drone when you ad weight. The average 25 minute flight time dramatically comes down when a drone is loaded. And don’t forget, deliveries require a round trip…there and back…otherwise you also deliver a drone!
WEIGHT RATIO: Drones are limited to what they carry. They can only carry on or about 15% of their body weight. So good luck delivering a bowling ball! - The heavier the package, the larger the drone has to be.
NOISE: The helicopter has been around for decades, yet they are not used commercially for residential deliveries or for everyday customer travel. The fact is, the propellers need a certain degree of tilt in order to generate lift and at that degree, they also generate a whole lot of noise. Can you imagine a few drones flying around making deliveries?
Whomever invents a propeller that can generate lift without noise, will go down in history as a great inventor.
That said, you should know that you are at ods with Elon Musk, who was recently quoted for saying:
“I’ve actually made a prediction that within 30 years a majority of new cars made in the United States will be electric. And I don’t mean hybrid, I mean fully electric.”
Elon Musk
This is December 2016 Put a note in your planner to remember these
conversations in 2036. I have pretty good genes I may still be around. Catch
up with me and we’ll have a beer and talk about it.
If you were Elon Musk What else would you be saying?
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There are exclusion zones around air ports. BIG ONES. Look for more of the same around more areas in the future. I think the little puppy’s are NEAT! Thinking about one myself…
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@Old_Houseboater Lets not wait until 2036 to have that beer.
I totally agree, Elon ought to be saying what he is saying. However, I’ve watched other technologies catch many by surprise.
We ended up with cell phones inside of a decade
We ended up with a personal computers inside of a decade
The movie industry was deregulated by technology
The music industry, decentralized by technology
The Taxi industry was blindsided by Uber
The time-share industry blindsided by VBRO and AirBnB
The car industry is next. The “dealerships” as we know them are next.
IMHO, battery technology is accelerating quickly and computing power is also accelerating. These two combined may just make this happen. It will be interesting to watch, for sure. I certainly would hate to see you get stuck on the wrong side of history old friend.
PSS - I will make the change on the old site far more prominent. Thank you.
Exclusion zones or no fly zones…that is were they will get us. You are right, that’s another hurdle drones will need to over come.
History shows is that governments around the world will encourage new technologies such as drone delivery systems and then tax them to the hilt when they are a necessity! We have seen it with electronic cigarettes (soon with EVs?) and many more new technologies over the years. There are a number of hurdles for the drone industry to overcome which include: –
No-fly zones
The cost of lost drones
Intentional damage to delivery drones
Noise pollution
Weight carrying limits
Public trust
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