IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i19p6006-d640249.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Structural Power Performance Targets for Future Electric Aircraft

Author

Listed:
  • Elitza Karadotcheva

    (Department of Aeronautics, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, UK)

  • Sang N. Nguyen

    (Department of Aeronautics, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, UK)

  • Emile S. Greenhalgh

    (Department of Aeronautics, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, UK)

  • Milo S. P. Shaffer

    (Department of Chemistry, White City Campus, Imperial College London, 82 Wood Lane, London W12 0BZ, UK
    Department of Materials, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, UK)

  • Anthony R. J. Kucernak

    (Department of Chemistry, White City Campus, Imperial College London, 82 Wood Lane, London W12 0BZ, UK)

  • Peter Linde

    (German Aerospace Center (DLR), Königswinterer Straße 522-524, Oberkassel, D-53227 Bonn, Germany
    Department of Industrial and Materials Science, Chalmers University of Technology, S-41296 Gothenburg, Sweden)

Abstract

The development of commercial aviation is being driven by the need to improve efficiency and thereby lower emissions. All-electric aircraft present a route to eliminating direct fuel burning emissions, but their development is stifled by the limitations of current battery energy and power densities. Multifunctional structural power composites, which combine load-bearing and energy-storing functions, offer an alternative to higher-energy-density batteries and will potentially enable lighter and safer electric aircraft. This study investigated the feasibility of integrating structural power composites into future electric aircraft and assessed the impact on emissions. Using the Airbus A320 as a platform, three different electric aircraft configurations were designed conceptually, incorporating structural power composites, slender wings and distributed propulsion. The specific energy and power required for the structural power composites were estimated by determining the aircraft mission performance requirements and weight. Compared to a conventional A320, a parallel hybrid-electric A320 with structural power composites >200 Wh/kg could potentially increase fuel efficiency by 15% for a 1500 km mission. For an all-electric A320, structural power composites >400 Wh/kg could halve the specific energy or mass of batteries needed to power a 1000 km flight.

Suggested Citation

  • Elitza Karadotcheva & Sang N. Nguyen & Emile S. Greenhalgh & Milo S. P. Shaffer & Anthony R. J. Kucernak & Peter Linde, 2021. "Structural Power Performance Targets for Future Electric Aircraft," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-30, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:19:p:6006-:d:640249
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/19/6006/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/19/6006/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andreas W. Schäfer & Steven R. H. Barrett & Khan Doyme & Lynnette M. Dray & Albert R. Gnadt & Rod Self & Aidan O’Sullivan & Athanasios P. Synodinos & Antonio J. Torija, 2019. "Technological, economic and environmental prospects of all-electric aircraft," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 4(2), pages 160-166, February.
    2. Till Julian Adam & Guangyue Liao & Jan Petersen & Sebastian Geier & Benedikt Finke & Peter Wierach & Arno Kwade & Martin Wiedemann, 2018. "Multifunctional Composites for Future Energy Storage in Aerospace Structures," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-21, February.
    3. Nils Budziszewski & Jens Friedrichs, 2018. "Modelling of A Boundary Layer Ingesting Propulsor," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-15, March.
    4. Nicholas Williard & Wei He & Christopher Hendricks & Michael Pecht, 2013. "Lessons Learned from the 787 Dreamliner Issue on Lithium-Ion Battery Reliability," Energies, MDPI, vol. 6(9), pages 1-14, September.
    5. Han Hao & Zhexuan Mu & Shuhua Jiang & Zongwei Liu & Fuquan Zhao, 2017. "GHG Emissions from the Production of Lithium-Ion Batteries for Electric Vehicles in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-12, April.
    6. Mats Zackrisson & Christina Jönsson & Wilhelm Johannisson & Kristin Fransson & Stefan Posner & Dan Zenkert & Göran Lindbergh, 2019. "Prospective Life Cycle Assessment of a Structural Battery," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-14, October.
    7. Xiao-Guang Yang & Teng Liu & Chao-Yang Wang, 2021. "Thermally modulated lithium iron phosphate batteries for mass-market electric vehicles," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 6(2), pages 176-185, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alan Ransil & Angela M. Belcher, 2021. "Structural ceramic batteries using an earth-abundant inorganic waterglass binder," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-8, December.
    2. Anita Prapotnik Brdnik & Rok Kamnik & Maršenka Marksel & Stanislav Božičnik, 2019. "Market and Technological Perspectives for the New Generation of Regional Passenger Aircraft," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-14, May.
    3. Arkadiusz Adamczyk, 2020. "Sizing and Control Algorithms of a Hybrid Energy Storage System Based on Fuel Cells," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-15, October.
    4. Yuqiang Zeng & Buyi Zhang & Yanbao Fu & Fengyu Shen & Qiye Zheng & Divya Chalise & Ruijiao Miao & Sumanjeet Kaur & Sean D. Lubner & Michael C. Tucker & Vincent Battaglia & Chris Dames & Ravi S. Prashe, 2023. "Extreme fast charging of commercial Li-ion batteries via combined thermal switching and self-heating approaches," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    5. Duggal, Angel Swastik & Singh, Rajesh & Gehlot, Anita & Gupta, Lovi Raj & Akram, Sheik Vaseem & Prakash, Chander & Singh, Sunpreet & Kumar, Raman, 2021. "Infrastructure, mobility and safety 4.0: Modernization in road transportation," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    6. Nenming Wang & Guwen Tang, 2022. "A Review on Environmental Efficiency Evaluation of New Energy Vehicles Using Life Cycle Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-35, March.
    7. Niloufar Zabihi & Mohamed Saafi, 2020. "Recent Developments in the Energy Harvesting Systems from Road Infrastructures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-27, August.
    8. Gutsch, Moritz & Leker, Jens, 2024. "Costs, carbon footprint, and environmental impacts of lithium-ion batteries – From cathode active material synthesis to cell manufacturing and recycling," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 353(PB).
    9. Guanjun Ji & Di Tang & Junxiong Wang & Zheng Liang & Haocheng Ji & Jun Ma & Zhaofeng Zhuang & Song Liu & Guangmin Zhou & Hui-Ming Cheng, 2024. "Sustainable upcycling of mixed spent cathodes to a high-voltage polyanionic cathode material," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    10. Riccardo Iacobucci & Benjamin McLellan & Tetsuo Tezuka, 2018. "The Synergies of Shared Autonomous Electric Vehicles with Renewable Energy in a Virtual Power Plant and Microgrid," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-20, August.
    11. Johannes Morfeldt & Daniel J. A. Johansson, 2022. "Impacts of shared mobility on vehicle lifetimes and on the carbon footprint of electric vehicles," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    12. Zhou, Na & Su, Hui & Wu, Qiaosheng & Hu, Shougeng & Xu, Deyi & Yang, Danhui & Cheng, Jinhua, 2022. "China's lithium supply chain: Security dynamics and policy countermeasures," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    13. Suchandra Paul, 2018. "Crisis in Boeing 787 Dreamliner: An Investigation from Project Management Control Perspective," International Journal of Human Resource Studies, Macrothink Institute, vol. 8(4), pages 242251-2422, December.
    14. Jin, Changyong & Sun, Yuedong & Wang, Huaibin & Zheng, Yuejiu & Wang, Shuyu & Rui, Xinyu & Xu, Chengshan & Feng, Xuning & Wang, Hewu & Ouyang, Minggao, 2022. "Heating power and heating energy effect on the thermal runaway propagation characteristics of lithium-ion battery module: Experiments and modeling," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    15. Yi Wu & Saurabh Saxena & Yinjiao Xing & Youren Wang & Chuan Li & Winco K. C. Yung & Michael Pecht, 2018. "Analysis of Manufacturing-Induced Defects and Structural Deformations in Lithium-Ion Batteries Using Computed Tomography," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-22, April.
    16. Jianxun Zhang & Xiao He & Xiaosheng Si & Changhua Hu & Donghua Zhou, 2017. "A Novel Multi-Phase Stochastic Model for Lithium-Ion Batteries’ Degradation with Regeneration Phenomena," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-24, October.
    17. Shengjin Tang & Chuanqiang Yu & Xue Wang & Xiaosong Guo & Xiaosheng Si, 2014. "Remaining Useful Life Prediction of Lithium-Ion Batteries Based on the Wiener Process with Measurement Error," Energies, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-28, January.
    18. Nils Thonemann & Anna Schulte & Daniel Maga, 2020. "How to Conduct Prospective Life Cycle Assessment for Emerging Technologies? A Systematic Review and Methodological Guidance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-23, February.
    19. Christian Aichberger & Gerfried Jungmeier, 2020. "Environmental Life Cycle Impacts of Automotive Batteries Based on a Literature Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-27, December.
    20. Yongtao Liu & Chunmei Zhang & Zhuo Hao & Xu Cai & Chuanpan Liu & Jianzhang Zhang & Shu Wang & Yisong Chen, 2023. "Study on the Life Cycle Assessment of Automotive Power Batteries Considering Multi-Cycle Utilization," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-24, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:19:p:6006-:d:640249. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.