Technical concepts of airport infrastructure for charging battery-electric aircraft

Abstract

The paper presents results from the research project “Flexible and automated aircraft charging via energy storage at airports” (FAACE), studying how airport infrastructure could be designed to meet the requirements of future aviation and propulsion technologies. The project is limited to focusing on concepts for charging battery-powered electric aircraft. As there are currently major uncertainties regarding the technical, operational and business developments in electric aviation, it is desirable to design for flexibility in the airport infrastructure.

This paper outlines the scope of the problem in terms of airport and aircraft assumptions, and proposes four different technical concept topologies for the charging infrastructure system, where some are presented with several possible variants. Some of the concept topologies explored include mobile or fixed power electronics components, as well as including possible battery storage systems, that can also be stationary or mobile. The mobile technical solutions utilize an automated vehicle that can take charging equipment and / or a battery storage unit close to the aircraft. Furthermore, we propose several evaluation criteria which are used to make a concept comparison, assuming some general characteristics of the aircraft, the airport, and their operation. These include estimates of energy efficiency, load to the electrical grid, flexibility and scalability aspects, land usage, electromagnetic interference aspects and very approximative costs.

The advantages and disadvantages of the different concepts are discussed, and we describe situations when some of these concepts would be found to be most suitable, which depends on the exact criteria prioritization from the airport perspective. The comparison is visualized by providing calculation examples.

Results show that no single concept fits all airport types; fixed infrastructure offers high efficiency but low flexibility, while mobile and hybrid solutions provide adaptability at the cost of complexity and lower efficiency. The suitability of each concept depends strongly on airport size, traffic patterns, and infrastructure priorities.