BLOG: Richard Watson of Electro.aero discusses the complexities of electric aircraft charging systems

The avi­a­tion indus­try stands at a cru­cial cross­roads as it moves toward elec­tri­fi­ca­tion. Through the SAE AE7D com­mit­tee’s work, this year is shap­ing up to be a piv­otal year for stan­dard­iz­ing elec­tric air­craft charg­ing sys­tems.

The com­mit­tee, which focus­es on air­craft ener­gy stor­age and charg­ing, is work­ing to cre­ate inter­na­tion­al­ly stan­dard­ized solu­tions specif­i­cal­ly tai­lored to avi­a­tion’s unique require­ments.

Why CCS Isn’t the Answer for Aviation

While Com­bined Charg­ing Sys­tem (CCS) con­nec­tors work well for elec­tric vehi­cles, they present sev­er­al lim­i­ta­tions for air­craft appli­ca­tions. The inclu­sion of unnec­es­sary AC pins, inlet-based lock­ing mech­a­nisms, and pow­er line com­mu­ni­ca­tion pro­to­cols make CCS less than ide­al for avi­a­tion use. These sys­tems add weight, com­plex­i­ty, and cer­ti­fi­ca­tion chal­lenges that air­craft man­u­fac­tur­ers would rather avoid.

The Unique Require­ments of Air­craft Charg­ing Air­craft charg­ing dif­fers fun­da­men­tal­ly from ground vehi­cle charg­ing in sev­er­al ways:

• Mul­ti­ple bat­tery packs requir­ing sep­a­rate charg­ing points
• Strict weight lim­i­ta­tions affect­ing cable design
• Com­plex ther­mal man­age­ment require­ments
• Need for redun­dan­cy and safe­ty sys­tems
• Dif­fer­ent phys­i­cal con­straints due to wing con­fig­u­ra­tions
• High­er reli­a­bil­i­ty require­ments for avi­a­tion-grade equip­ment

Building the Future Infrastructure

Elec­tro Aero is devel­op­ing var­i­ous charg­ing solu­tions to meet both imme­di­ate and future needs:

• Portable 40kW and 80kW charg­ers for quick deploy­ment
• Rapid 240 sys­tem with dual plugs for effi­cient charg­ing
• Non-liq­uid cooled cables to reduce main­te­nance require­ments
• Devel­op­ment of megawatt-scale charg­ing sys­tems for larg­er air­craft

The Case for Global Standardization

Rather than try­ing to cre­ate inter­op­er­abil­i­ty with ground vehi­cles, the indus­try is push­ing for avi­a­tion-spe­cif­ic glob­al stan­dards.

This approach rec­og­nizes that with­in the next decade, elec­tric air­craft could be capa­ble of inter­na­tion­al trav­el, neces­si­tat­ing con­sis­tent charg­ing infra­struc­ture world­wide. While some argue for dual-use charg­ing sys­tems that could serve both air­craft and ground sup­port equip­ment, this may com­pro­mise safe­ty and effi­cien­cy in the long run.

Tech­ni­cal Inno­va­tion and Safe­ty Con­sid­er­a­tions

Key devel­op­ments in charg­ing tech­nol­o­gy include:

• Air­craft CCUs (Charge Con­trol Units) weigh­ing only 50 grams
• Com­pat­i­bil­i­ty options for dif­fer­ent charg­ing stan­dards
• Enhanced safe­ty fea­tures for ther­mal man­age­ment
• Improved com­mu­ni­ca­tion pro­to­cols between air­craft and charg­ers
• Bat­tery state of health mon­i­tor­ing sys­tems

Look­ing Ahead As the indus­try moves for­ward, sev­er­al pri­or­i­ties are emerg­ing:

• Deploy­ment of portable charg­ing solu­tions in the US mar­ket
• Devel­op­ment of bat­tery buffer­ing sys­tems for ener­gy stor­age
• Inte­gra­tion of renew­able ener­gy sources at air­ports
• Cre­ation of ver­sa­tile charg­ing sys­tems capa­ble of oper­at­ing in diverse cli­mates
• Focus on stan­dard­iza­tion efforts through the SAE AE7D com­mit­tee

The elec­tric avi­a­tion indus­try is at a crit­i­cal junc­ture where deci­sions made about charg­ing infra­struc­ture will have long-last­ing impli­ca­tions.

Through care­ful con­sid­er­a­tion of avi­a­tion-spe­cif­ic require­ments and a focus on glob­al stan­dard­iza­tion, com­pa­nies like Elec­tro Aero are work­ing to cre­ate charg­ing solu­tions that will sup­port the future of elec­tric flight.

As the indus­try con­tin­ues to evolve, the empha­sis remains on devel­op­ing safe, effi­cient, and reli­able charg­ing sys­tems that can meet the unique demands of avi­a­tion while sup­port­ing the tran­si­tion to sus­tain­able air trav­el.