Electric Aircraft Enabled by Battery Swapping: Energy Consumption and Range Analysis

Sammanfattning

Sustainability is one of the main factors driving the development of transportation. Phasing out fossil fuels and transitioning to electrified transportation is currently often seen as a step in the right direction. In this master's thesis, the objective is to investigate whether battery swapping is applicable to electric aircraft. A literature study is conducted on topics relevant to the research questions, along with a MATLAB Simulink simulation of airplanes' energy consumption during the flight mission and their total range. Current generations of batteries and the next generation of batteries are researched and simulated to provide data on how electric aviation is holding up currently and how future batteries may transform transportation in the future. Battery degradation is also considered, and the potential for repurposing degraded batteries in battery energy storage systems, after they are no longer suitable for safe flight, is discussed. Battery energy storage systems are crucial for the storage capabilities of both energy bought from the grid and green energy generated by the airport's renewable sources, potentially from photovoltaic systems, wind power, hydropower, or geothermal energy. After conducting a thorough literature study and simulations, the results indicate that metal-air batteries are the most viable option due to their high theoretical energy density. All metal-air batteries are inherently different, with some being primary batteries and others being secondary batteries, making their battery swapping capabilities vary with the metal electrode used. Future research will determine which metal-air battery is most suited for use in electric aviation, and whether it works with battery swapping or not.