Net-Zero Charging Infrastructure for Electric Aircrafts

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to address two design questions pertaining to aviation sustainability: First, how to design a solution for the establishment of a net-zero electric aircraft (EA) charging infrastructure for airports similar in size to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA)? Second, what is an optimal solution for sizing spare batteries, mega-chargers, wind turbines and photovoltaics to promote net-zero energy operations for small- and medium-capacity EA fleets? We propose a queueing decision-making model to de-carbonize airport battery charging and swapping in the presence of demand-supply uncertainty under EA turn-around time constraints. We develop a data analytics model to characterize and predict battery swapping (BaS) and on-board mega-charging (MC) service operations based on aircraft arrival rate and layover wait times from Southwest Airlines. This optimization problem is formulated as a two-stage programming model: first, optimizing the spare battery inventory and mega-charger installation; then determining the aircraft capacity design with onsite renewable generation technology and capacity optimization. This battery service modeling will yield throughput information at 1000kW charging levels and provide insight into BaS processes for commercial EA services. The first managerial implication is to minimize the annualized battery MC facility cost from aircraft turn-around time to establish a foundation for the net-zero charging infrastructure design. Second, the intermittent power onsite wind and solar energy production systems must be coordinated appropriately to meet the design requirements. Thus, the necessary sizing of wind turbines and solar panels will be determined in conjunction with hourly weather conditions to ensure enough green energy supply.