One of the engines on the E-Fan X would be driven by an electric generator. Image / Supplied.
One of the engines on the E-Fan X would be driven by an electric generator. Image / Supplied.
An Airbus executive says New Zealand would be ideally suited as a test bed for electric passenger planes but warns that it will take years to get them certified by regulators.
There is a rapid push to developing battery-powered passenger planes around the world and airlines such as Air NewZealand are very enthusiastic about the technology, partnering with international companies to develop know-how.
Airbus director of sales in Australia-Pacific, Matthias Seifert, says this country's high volume of electricity from renewable sources and regulatory regime made it well suited to electric planes.
''The ability to recharge batteries with renewable energy is a good starting point for this and I could see New Zealand, with an open-minded regulation, being a good place for them,'' he said on the sidelines of Aviation New Zealand's annual conference.
Airbus is working with Rolls-Royce on a prototype regional passenger plane and hopes to have a test flight off the ground next year, a year behind an original schedule. The planemaker split with another partner Siemens earlier this year in the E-Fan X project, a four-engined BAe 146, with one of the aircraft's four engines replaced by a 2MW electric motor.
Batteries right now can't store as much energy as traditional aviation fuel - kerosene - and they would be unsuitable for long-haul flights but more suited to short hops and then be re-charged. Getting them certified for commercial use was a long process.
Boeing's Dreamliner uses a large amount of battery energy to power its systems — not to power its engines — and it had to go through lengthy certification to get approval. Even then smouldering battery problems led to the temporary grounding to the fleet around the world.
An Airbus urban taxi is undergoing trials. Image / Supplied
"With Boeing and the Dreamliner there was long journey to get there. They had a lot of difficulty with certification of batteries, which is very strict on battery technology. You want to have a lot more assurance around it being really safe,'' said Seifert.
Battery-power or hybrid planes would be quieter and more likely to be able to be used when there were curfews at airports.
''If you can use electric power during take off and landing it will reduce noise levels dramatically so you can take off at night and land at night so airport congestion can be reduced.''
Heathrow Airport last year announced an incentive to the production of cleaner, quieter aircraft by offering free landing fees for a year to the first hybrid electric plane to be used on regular services. Norway has set a target for all regional flights to be battery powered by 2040.
Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon said when talking last week about the growing flygskam - or flying shame - movement, that he hoped electrically powered planes could be flying within the next decade.
The airline has signed an agreement with French aircraft manufacturer ATR to develop electric aircraft on regional routes and last year it announced a partnership with Zephyr Airworks, a flying-car startup backed by Google co-founder Larry Page, which is running trials of electric air taxis in Christchurch.
Airbus company Vahana has developed a vertical take-off and landing autonomous aircraft that has flown more than 50 times in a number of cities.
Seifert said the Airbus Vahana aircraft was designed to speed up transport in the world's mega-cities.
Reports of a second generation of the eight-propeller tilt-wing aircraft could fly as far as 100km.
Zunum Aero has reportedly hit financial trouble. Image / Supplied
While the most likely passenger planes are hybrids, an Israeli firm is developing a fully electric aircraft.
At the Paris Airshow in July, Eviation showed off ''Alice'', a nine-passenger plane which its makers say could fly 1000km at 440km/h. The aircraft is still in prototype stage, weighs 6.5 tonnes and has a lithium ion battery about nine times bigger than Tesla.
Design images show propellers on each wingtip and at the rear of the fuselage.
The company has said it hopes to get certification for the plane by late 2021 and the following year start deliveries to its first customer, a commuter airline in the US.
But another electric aircraft startup - Zunum Aero - is reported to have hit problems.
The Boeing and JetBlue-funded company has reported significant delays to its hybrid-electric aircraft development project amid reports the company has essentially shut down operations due to insufficient funding, it was reported last month.
The company had moved out of facilities in Indianapolis and Bothell, Washington.
The company ran out of cash but was pursuing an agreement to win more funding and remains committed to developing electric-powered flight, according to Forbes and The Seattle Times.
