No, he’s not. Rather, you’ve misunderstood what’s going on.
So the 3.3x-5x “efficiency” goal involves a much, much smaller drag reduction than you understood. Because piston engines are only about 30% efficient—they waste 70% of their fuel energy as heat—this isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison. (Gas turbines are about 30% more efficient than piston engines in aircraft applications).
In the real world, I’d be thrilled for the X-57 team if the total aircraft drag at 150 KIAS was reduced by 25-50%. A 100% drag reduction would be extraordinary. 15-20% seems realistic to me.
Oh, are we betting?!? OK!
Several pilots and at least one aerospace engineer have cautioned you that the 500% number isn’t real—and we’ve explained why. We’ve further fleshed out why the real improvement is likely to be 5-10% of the press-release number. And yet you’re sticking to the press release.
Like the poker aphorism says: if you’ve been at the table half an hour and you don’t know who the sucker is, it’s you.