.png)
Australian designed and built Aircraft charge solutions for unique Australian conditions
FlyOnE is not just importing the aircraft of tomorrow, training the pilots, and opening up the Air Taxi routes of tomorrow, but also building the aviation charge node network to service it all.
A complete Advanced Air Mobility network will need all of the elements mentioned above. To ensure new electric pilots have a growing network of sites to fly to for recharge, FlyOnE is working with local governments and airports to roll out infrastructure to support the next wave of air transport.
FlyOnE has completed over 1400 passenger movements to date and over 150,000 passenger kilometers in Electric Aircraft in Australia. During this service delivery process, we have learned a thing or two about charging electric aircraft in a commercial capacity.
FlyOnE has completed over 1400 passenger movements to date and over 150,000 passenger kilometers in Electric Aircraft in Australia. During this service delivery process, we have learned a thing or two about charging electric aircraft in a commercial capacity.
IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF AIRCRAFT CHARGING TO UNDERSTAND
Charging an electric aircraft is NOT like refueling an ICE aircraft. As such, basic 'bowser' style charge hardware will not be an adequate solution to enabling electric aircraft activity at regional or metropolitan airports.
1. TIME BLOCKING
Electric aircraft will likely only be flying in VMC (visual meteorological conditions) for many years to come. This means all-electric aircraft operators will be flying at similar times and thus requiring recharge at similar times. The absolute best-case scenario for an electric aircraft charge cycle with average infrastructure, is 30-40 minutes, though a cycle can often take longer depending on some variables.
This means, if an airport wants to service more than 2 electric aircraft, it will need 2 or more chargers to do so practically. Given that aircraft are not small, this brings us to the next important aspect....
2. POSITIONING
Electric aircraft will primarily be operated by flight schools, private users and on-demand air charter operators. This is their best economic use case.
These types of use cases typically operate from a 'home hangar' or base-of-operations.
For time-blocking efficiency, the charge cycle will need to be active while onboarding and off-boarding or Briefing and de-briefing activities are occurring, meaning the charge cycle will occur at the operators' 'home hangar' and not at a 'bowser' in the general parking area of the airfield.
A charger will very often stay connected right up to the last moment before departure, through pre-flight checks and radio clearances and other pre-take-off activities during training missions and private flights.
3. COOLING
THERMAL MANAGEMENT, THERMAL MANAGEMENT, THERMAL MANAGEMENT
A critical aspect of operating an electric aircraft in Australia is temperature management. In Australia, we have more warmer weather to consider than most locations on Earth. When the temperature rises in the battery during a charge cycle, it will both extend the length of time required to achieve charge and deteriorate the chemical state of the battery.
As such, all FlyOnE charge nodes include integrated active thermal management to cool batteries during the charge cycle and even to pre-cool them prior to departure ensuring the maximum performance and longevity of the batteries.
Similarly, at the end of the flight mission, the batteries are in a high-temperature state, often at the top threshold of their optimal thermal envelope.
If a charge cycle were to begin in this state without off-board thermal management, it would be extended by up to 30% and also deteriorate the battery chemistry. Operators will not undergo charging under these circumstances unless absolutely necessary for emergency reasons, as it is permanently compromising the battery capacity 'State of health'.
To effectively manage this, all recharge locations will need to have integrated off board thermal management hardware such as we have already deployed at our high volume charge node locations.
The cooling system needs to be close to the plane for the efficiency of the cooling hoses (shorter length) that connect to the aircraft from the charge cart.
4. SLOW CHARGING
As anyone who has ever charged anything will know... the slower the charge, the better the charge. This is also a strong influencing factor for battery longevity. It is critical for the economic performance of an electric aircraft to complete a slow charge at any opportunity eg. overnight.
This will allow important battery balancing, reduce unscheduled maintenance and extend the service life of the battery.
For obvious reasons, nice, new aircraft are kept inside hangars overnight and in bad weather and charge cycles cannot be conducted exposed in wet weather due to safety and hardware damage risks, regardless of how weather-resistant the charger itself is.
Therefore, every electric aircraft operator will manage their own aircraft charging at night to maintain the aircraft correctly and have it ready for operation at the next earliest VMC conditions.
5. ENERGY AVAILABILITY
A hard truth is that energy grids at regional (and even Metro) airports have not been upgraded for a very long time.
Another hard truth is that electric aircraft are very energy-demanding.
Gen 1 electric aircraft only have a 20kW charge requirement, which can be serviced by a 3 phase 32A power outlet.
As of yet, on all of our Australian airport charge node activations, not a single one could accommodate this energy requirement and we had to have upgrades installed at every site.
It is important to understand that Gen2 and Gen 3 electric aircraft will have 80-200kW power requirements, requiring major infrastructure upgrades and any charger that is installed in the near future should be able to accommodate this for a 5-10 year effective operating life.
While it is rather difficult to enable infrastructure upgrades to the grid to accommodate this level of power availability, it is very easy, cost-effective and ultimately supports renewable energy better, to install a renewable energy collection and storage upgrade on a hosting hangar/airport terminal. This solution works out cheaper in most cases, reduces the site's dependence on the grid and allows for more renewable energy to be used for both aircraft charging and site backup or general use.
This is the big area of the energy supply chain in the future of aviation that will need strong government support. Infrastructure upgrades have a substantial up front cost, and a slow return on investment, making it difficult for the private sector to justify deploying equipment at regional sites.
6. EXCEPTIONS
The aspects above are the rules of charging for electric aircraft, but, as with every rule, there are exceptions.
For instance, our fleet in Western Australia operate between Mandurah, Jandakot, Rottnest Island with Bunbury, Collie and Margaret River soon to be activated.
All of the mainland sites have a charge-cart with integrated cooling hosted by the flight school/charter operator at the airfield, allowing for active cooling on fast charges and overnight charges in the hangar for battery longevity and performance.
However, there is no hangar at Rottnest Island and as a government-run airport, it is practically impossible to make infrastructure changes to the site in any realistic timeframe.
To overcome this issue, we have deployed a self-regenerating outdoor charge-cart with 15kWh of energy storage and 1kW of Solar regeneration. This solution CAN be deployed in the general parking area of any airport and remain versatile, mobile, and grid-independent.
The current specs allow it to service the current range of Gen 1 Electric Aircraft and it is modularly upgradable to accommodate Gen 2 and Gen 3 electric aircraft.
An additional unique deployment we are planning is a water-based charge pontoon capable of receiving a landing eVTOL aircraft.
This will allow eVTOL aircraft to land near any currently operating Marina, Jetty or Quay 500ft from buildings, then the pontoon will taxi under it's own power to the disembarkation area.
The Pontoon will have on-board energy storage and thermal management hardware to support all eVTOL aircraft.
This solution allows rapid deployment of eVTOL services to any popular waterside travel hub with no fixed infrastructure upgrades and has a low demand on the grid as it will slow charge between arrivals/departures. It can also be used to service electric watercraft.
Download the mobile airport charge cart info document here
Download the marine mobile charge pontoon info document here
Second generation electric aircraft chargers 80-200kw available now
