
Promising electric aviation industry and its bright future
- 1 Basis International School Guangzhou
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
There have been rising concerns about the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that commercial aviation produces each year. Greenhouse gases generated by aircraft trap the sunlight in the ozone layer, causing the planet's temperature to rise yearly. Thus, developing more electric aircraft (MEA) and all-electric aircraft (AEA) is crucial to serve as alternatives to traditional fossil-fuel airplanes to avert climate change. Although electric aircraft theoretically provide numerous benefits in improving efficiency, reducing noise levels, and cutting emissions, numerous challenges exist, such as energy density, cost, and power distribution. This paper aims to analyze these challenges and looks for potential technologies or systems, including electromechanical actuators, high energy-density lithium batteries, and superconducting motors, to resolve these challenges. Overall, the electric aviation industry is promising with further improved new technologies. While MEA will become common shortly, there will still be at least two to three decades before AEA establishes ground and become prevalent in the commercial aviation industry.
Keywords
electric aircraft, emission, battery, electric motor, airframe
[1]. Waldek S, Matra A. April 16, 2023. Why Planes Are Among the Safest Modes Of Transportation According To Aviation Experts. Retrieved on July 1, 2023. https://www.travelandleisureasia.com/in/travel-tips/planning/why-planes-are-among-the-safest-ways-to-travel/
[2]. Graver B, Zhang K and Rutherford D 2019 Emissions from commercial aviation, 2018 International Council on Clean Transportation
[3]. Fleming G and Lepinay I 2019 Environmental Trends in Aviation to 2050 International Civil Aviation Organization 17
[4]. McGinn, M. October 14, 2022. The first electric airplane is here, and its name is Alice. Retrieved on June 29, 2023. https://adventure.com/the-first-electric-passenger-plane-is-here/
[5]. Warwick, G. December 2, 2019. Airbus A3 completes Vahana EVTOL flight testing. Retrieved on June 29, 2023. https://aviationweek.com/business-aviation/airbus-a3-completes-vahana-evtol-flight-testing
[6]. Heilman, G. July 3, 2023. Alef flying car: What we know about the first car certified to fly: Design, technology, price. Retrieved on June 29, 2023. https://en.as.com/latest_news/alef-flying-car-what-we-know-about-the-first-car-certified-to-fly-design-technology-price-n/
[7]. Elective. February 8, 2020. Wright Electric works on large electric passenger plane. Retrieved on June 29, 2023. https://www.electrive.com/2020/02/02/wright-electric-works-on-large-electric-passenger-plane/
[8]. General Aviation News. April 15, 2021. Flight testing reveals electric aircraft reduce noise pollution. Retrieved on June 29, 2023. https://generalaviationnews.com/2021/04/15/flight-testing-reveals-electric-aircraft-reduce-noise-pollution/
[9]. Memon, O. December 9, 2022. The Power Chain Efficiency Of An Electric Aircraft. Retrieved on June 29, 2023. https://simpleflying.com/electric-aircraft-power-chain-efficiency-guide/
[10]. Mukhopadhaya J and Graver B 2022 Performance analysis of regional electric aircraft International Council on Clean Transportation 3
[11]. Aviation Benefit Beyond Borders. Electric taxiing takes aircraft efficiency to a new level. Retrieved on June 20, 2023. https://aviationbenefits.org/case-studies/electric-taxiing-takes-aircraft-efficiency-to-a-new-level/
[12]. Clean Energy Institute. Lithium-Ion Battery. Retrieved on July 1, 2023. https://www.cei.washington.edu/education/science-of-solar/battery-technology/
[13]. Warwick, G. April 19, 2023. China’s CATL Targets Energy-Dense Battery At Electric Aircraft. Retrieved on July 2, 2023. https://aviationweek.com/aerospace/emerging-technologies/chinas-catl-targets-energy-dense-battery-electric-aircraft/
[14]. Amprius Technologies. March 23, 2023. The All-New Amprius 500 Wh/kg Battery Platform is Here. Retrieved on June 29, 2023. https://amprius.com/the-all-new-amprius-500-wh-kg-battery-platform-is-here/
[15]. Adu-Gyamfi B and Good C 2022 Transportation Engineering 9 100134
[16]. Wang K, Zhou Z, Fan Z and Guo J 2021 Chinese Journal of Aeronautics 34 20
[17]. Liebeck R 2003 Blended wing body design challenges In AIAA International Air and Space Symposium and Exposition: The Next 100 Years 2003
[18]. Cloud, M. What is the Energy Density of a Lithium-Ion Battery. Retrieved on July 8, 2023. https://www.fluxpower.com/blog/what-is-the-energy-density-of-a-lithium-ion-battery
[19]. Novelli P 2011 Sustainable Way for Alternative Fuels and Energy in Aviation Directorate General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission
[20]. AirlinesInform. Airbus A320 commercial aircraft. Pictures, specifications, reviews Retrieved on July 15, 2023. https://www.airlines-inform.com/commercial-aircraft/airbus-a320.html
[21]. Aviation Benefits Beyond Borders. Sustainable fuel conversions. Retrieved on July 16, 2023. https://aviationbenefits.org/environmental-efficiency/climate-action/sustainable-aviation-fuel/
[22]. IEA. 2023. Trends in batteries. Retrieved on July 16, 2023. https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2023/trends-in-batteries
[23]. Schäfer A, Barrett S, Doyme K, Dray L, Gnadt A, Self R and Torija A 2019 Nature Energy 4 160
[24]. EV Charging Summit. How much does installing an EV charger cost? Retrieved on July 7, 2023. https://evchargingsummit.com/blog/how-much-does-installing-an-ev-charger-cost/
[25]. Sarlioglu B and Morris C 2015 IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification 1 54
[26]. Tariq M, Maswood A, Gajanayake C and Gupta A 2017 IET Electrical Systems in Transportation 7 93
[27]. Qiao G, Liu G, Shi Z, Wang Y, Ma S and Lim T 2017 Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science 232 4128
[28]. Sivasubramaniam K, Zhang T, Lokhandwalla M, Laskaris E, Bray J, Gerstler B and Alexander J 2009 IEEE Transactions on applied superconductivity 19 1656
[29]. Luongo C, Masson P, Nam T, Mavris D, Kim H, Brown G and Hall D 2009 IEEE Transactions on applied superconductivity 19 1055
Cite this article
Xu,C.C. (2023). Promising electric aviation industry and its bright future. Theoretical and Natural Science,12,153-161.
Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
Disclaimer/Publisher's Note
The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s). EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.
About volume
Volume title: Proceedings of the 2023 International Conference on Mathematical Physics and Computational Simulation
© 2024 by the author(s). Licensee EWA Publishing, Oxford, UK. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. Authors who
publish this series agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this
series.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published
version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial
publication in this series.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and
during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See
Open access policy for details).