International Conference on Transportation and Development 2020
Critical Review of Advancements and Challenges of All-Electric Aviation
Publication: International Conference on Transportation and Development 2020
ABSTRACT
The goal of this research is to study the potential benefits of electric aircraft on short-range operations by using measured operations and performance. This is achieved by studying: noise, environmental parameters, maintenance costs, reliability of batteries, fuel efficiency, safety, and pilot training. Each category of study shows the impacts of all-electric aviation and how they compare to conventional aviation operations. The study will identify and discuss the prototypes developed by Uber, Bell, Pipistrel, Boeing, and Airbus. This research presents data collected for each prototype to show the current status of the technology and presents the strengths and drawbacks of each prototype. In conclusion, the benefits of all-electric aircraft include noise reductions 17%, a reduction in greenhouse emissions of 80%, operating cost and pilot training cost reductions 70%. The main limitations of the further advancement of electric aircraft technology is the battery. Battery density of electric aircraft requires further research, testing, and development to make fully-electric aviation a success. As of now, batteries of electric aircraft can only provide enough power for short-range flights.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
International Conference on Transportation and Development 2020
Pages: 48 - 59
Editor: Guohui Zhang, Ph.D., University of Hawaii
ISBN (Online): 978-0-7844-8313-8
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Aug 31, 2020
Published in print: Aug 31, 2020
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