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Commercial electric planes to take off in five years

Sibahle Malinga
By Sibahle Malinga, ITWeb senior news journalist.
Johannesburg, 18 Oct 2021

Electric planes are expected to gain traction within the next five to 10 years, as governments across the globe introduce regulations to reduce carbon emissions in the aviation industry.

This was the word from Bryan Wood, global head of sales and marketing at Slovenian aircraft manufacturer Pipistrel Aircraft, speaking last week at the virtual SingularityU South Africa Summit 2021. The company creates concept electric aircrafts for passengers and cargo purposes.

Wood noted manufacturers across the globe are racing to trial and introduce electric aircraft, as airlines look to save money on fuel and operating costs, while hoping to meet regulatory compliance standards being introduced by several governments.

The aviation industry has one of the biggest carbon footprints as a result of commercial aviation, with the levels being on a steady increase.

In 2019, the European Aviation Safety Agency introduced regulations for battery electric and hybrid electric vertical aircraft in Europe, detailing guidelines around safety, flight certification, training and infrastructure.

As the global aviation industry advances, more governments are looking to introduce similar regulations, said Wood.

“Various factors are driving the demand for electric aircraft – the industry could save a tremendous amount of money. In the cargo industry, for instance, this would open up the opportunity for goods to be delivered for less to under-served areas which don’t have frequent deliveries.

“From a regulation standpoint, there are already a few European countries that have set regulations that by a certain date, flights travelling a certain distance must be all electric. Also, from a noise standpoint, there are quite a few metrics that have been introduced by airports; for example, in Europe, flights can only take off and land at certain times according to their average decibels noise rating. If they exceed the noise limit they are required to pay more landing fees,” he explained.

Due to electric propulsion motors, electric aircrafts are able to eliminate direct carbon emissions, while significantly reducing fuel costs and noise levels. Maintenance costs are also reduced by half, compared to combustion engine planes, added Wood.

“The aviation market is ripe for disruption and we will see quite a bit of change in the industry over the next five to 10 years. When you look at the hyper electric cargo air transport aircraft, you realise that the technology required to build this aircraft was not available at its current state five years ago. We are also seeing all sorts of progress regarding airspace management – all the developments that are now allowing us to do the things we couldn’t do five to six years ago.”

However, he pointed out the industry still needs to work on ecosystem collaboration, adequate charging infrastructure and introducing air traffic management policies to accommodate all objects flying in the sky, in order to make the environment conducive.

“We need to think about how we manage all these things flying in the airspace simultaneously among unmanned vehicles, drones, aircraft, birds and other objects that may come about, and how do we make sure there isn’t catastrophic damage that comes about as a result of all these vehicles taking to the skies,” he concluded

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