Airline chief executives hoping that the development of electric aircraft will boost the industry’s environmental credentials will have to wait many years yet, an expert has warned.
Airline chief executives hoping that the development of electric aircraft will boost the industry’s environmental credentials will have to wait many years yet, an expert has warned.
Andreas Kloeckner from German aerospace research centre DLR outlined the current state of electric aircraft development at IATA’s Wings of Change conference in Berlin on 19 November.
He notes that current research is focusing on small commuter-sized electric aircraft of around 19 seats, but that transports such as these are unlikely to fly before the late 2020s.
Larger aircraft that could match the capacity of an Airbus A320 or a Boeing 737 will require new technologies such a fuel cells or hydrogen power, probably working alongside batteries, and will not be ready until around 2040, Kloeckner estimates.
“The solution that we believe we can do is build a hybrid electric aircraft where there will be a system of hydrogen combustion generator plus battery, or fuel cells plus battery,” Kloeckner says.
Under current technology, powering an A320-size jet for just 1h would require a battery roughly the same size as the aircraft.
Despite the technological challenges of creating electric aircraft, doing so would bring numerous benefits.
As well as reducing carbon emissions and other pollutants, electric aircraft would produce significantly less noise and be easier and cheaper to maintain, on account of the reduced complexity of engines that have fewer moving parts. Electric motors can also be easily scaled, meaning that small engines can be as efficient as large ones. This offers the opportunity to alter the configurations of aircraft design.
However, developing electric aircraft will also require huge investments in the infrastructure for hydrogen or fuel cells, which would need to be the same globally. Batteries are also only environmentally friendly if they are charged with electricity from sustainable sources, Kloeckner notes.
