An electric passenger plane has been trialed by Airbus, who are hailing it 'the future of flight' .
In a move said to 'slash carbon emissions' Airbus is trialing a type of hybrid electric plane said to be the future of flight.
Airbus plans to use a series of small electric motors to power its first hybrid airliner as it increasingly faces pressure to cut its emissions before 2030. The technology actually comes from the car industry with Rolls Royce developing the concept for flight.
Trials are now underway with both a passenger plane and a helicopter fitted with the new technology.
Karim Mokaddem, the firm’s head of electrification, told The Telegraph that Airbus’s approach to building a hybrid successor to the best-selling A320 jet will form a blueprint for all other models.
The strategy will simplify the task of scaling up electrification, he said, as it will mean the planemaker will only need to add or remove motors depending on the size of a plane.
Karim Mokaddem, the firm’s head of electrification, told The Telegraph that Airbus’s approach to building a hybrid successor to the best-selling A320 jet will form a blueprint for all other models. The strategy will simplify the task of scaling up electrification, he said, as it will mean the planemaker will only need to add or remove motors depending on the size of a plane.
Airbus is working on concepts for planes that would use a liquid hydrogen propellant instead of jet fuel, but views hybrid power as a more immediate pathway toward reducing emissions.
A hybrid airliner would use auxiliary batteries to supplement its traditional jet engines, which would continue to provide the bulk of the required thrust. Electric motors would kick in at certain times, such as when the engines were idling during descent. They would also power non-propulsion-related activities, such as taxiing at the airport.
Key features:
Battery charges before takeoff
Electric motors power the start of jet engines and the plane while taxiing
Let engines power takeoff with boost from electric motors
Plane cruises on jet engines while battery partially recharges
Electric motors assist acceleration for landing
Electric motors power plane as it taxis to gate and help stabilise temperature of jet engines following shutdown.
Airbus originally looked at deploying much larger motors and batteries but changed tack after calculations showed the plan would add too much weight to be viable. It has instead settled on a more modest hybrid design that aims to reduce fuel consumption by about 5pc on a standard flight.
That would be accompanied by savings from other technological advances, including more efficient jet engines and a longer, thinner wing that Airbus is developing in the UK.
Combined, the changes should help propel the industry toward a target of net zero CO2 emissions by 2050, Mr Mokaddem said, even as airlines’ attempts to switch away from kerosene are held back by high prices and low availability of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
He said: “If we know that, ultimately, SAF won’t be sufficient and will be costly, we need to increase the performance of the plane. That can only come from the introduction of a new, clean energy, and the only clean energy that we have today is electricity.”
Mr Mokaddem said that hybrid technology suitable for future jets is already being trialled on Airbus’s experimental DisruptiveLab helicopter, which first flew last year.
While previously described as a stepping stone toward a more efficient helicopter, two or three motors from the model could be combined in a hybrid successor to the A320, he said.
The executive said: “I cannot go too far into the architecture but the idea is that you size it up two or three times.”
In settling on the hybrid strategy, Airbus has had to accept the limits of battery technology for high-powered aircraft. Mr Mokaddem said: “In the automotive industry, the bigger and more powerful the battery the better, until ultimately it becomes a fully electric car.
“But we have come to realise that in aviation you need to size the battery with frugality. If you try to electrify everything you need almost a nuclear plant inside the aircraft. And when that battery is empty you are flying around a huge weight.”
Neither are aircraft able to recover energy through braking like a hybrid car, while the auto industry’s view that passengers can evacuate in the event of a battery fire is hardly transferable to those flying at 38,000 feet.
However, the UN 2030 Agenda has other ideas. The Sustainable Development Goals list the banning of flight regardless of engine type.
2020 - 2029 - All airports except Heathrow, Glasgow and Belfast closed with transfer to rail
2030 - 2039 - ALL Remaining airports to close.
2050 - ABSOLUTE ZERO
Note that there is no mention keeping the airports open and just switching to 'eco-planes' , just airport closers.
Just when you thought is was safe to get on a 'plane again!😱😱