Daily Mail: A British-designed, solar-powered aircraft, Zephyr, broke the endurance record of 82 hours for unmanned flight on Saturday when it flew continuously for seven days, and it is expected to continue to fly for another seven. During the daytime, the aircraft is powered by the Sun via paper-thin solar arrays on its wings, which also charge batteries to power the craft through the night. With a 22.5-meter wing span and weight of 50 kilograms, Zephyr is capable of soaring for long periods of time—possibly for military or civil surveillance purposes—without the need for refueling or servicing.
We are on the verge of making oil obsolete for transportation. Oil is already obsolete for ground vehicles. We have already proven that cars, trucks and trains can run on electricity . This solar powered plane is beginning to prove that we can also run planes on electricity. The only reason we are still using vast quantities of oil is because big oil has made enormous efforts to destroy the electric car industry.