Eviation – when can we fly electric?

We had a very interesting discussion today with Avinor, who have 44 airports in Norway due to the landscape and geography of the country.

We discussed electric planes or eviation which Norway are likely to be the first to put into service by 2030 say this Business Traveller article discussing Rolls-Royce‘s work in this area.

Norway produces more green electric than they need as a country through hydro power so are likely to be early adopters.

Charging a 50 seater is the equivalent of charing 10 Tesla‘s or as much as the airport uses per year in one charge. A big jump in power needed. The estimate of power consumption for one trip between Stavanger and Bergen is 800 kWh. When the plane is charging it is estimated that between 1500-2500 kW is needed in effect.We’ll need to leap frog the innovation in battery capacity and speed up the production of green electricity through solar, wind and hydro if available. These developments all dependent on policy, incentives, lobbying, sustainable investments and consumer demand.

This does mean SAF will be required as it sits in the suite of measures to decarbonise aviation, and as planes have a 30-40 year lifespan then it’s more unsustainable to take these out of service so wastes, residues and energy crops are definitely on the cards to create sustainable fuel for air travel.

FGA will be part of a masterclass on SAF at the Business Travel Show alongside easyJet and Salesforce on 1st October, in person, at the ExCel in London. We look forward to discussing industry development here.