EasyJet is taking lessons from the Formula 1 industry with plans to trial a hydrogen fuel cell system that the low-cost airline says could save about 50,000 tonnes of fuel per year and cut carbon emissions.
The budget carrier on Tuesday revealed plans for a hybrid plane concept that works by storing energy in the fuel cells as the aircraft brakes on landing, which can be used to power it when taxiing on the ground or when the main engines are turned off.
The technology is similar to the F1 kinetic energy recovery system, which uses waste energy created by braking and transforms it into electrical energy when the driver needs extra power to accelerate.
According to easyJet, adopting this technology would mean the airline would no longer need to use its jet engines during lengthy taxi operations, where the plane moves from the runway to the terminal.
It estimates that about 4 per cent of the fuel the airline consumes annually is used when its aircraft are taxiing. EasyJet’s aircraft typically average 20 minutes of taxi time per flight — the equivalent of about 4m miles a year.
Under the plans, each plane would have motors in its main wheels and electronics and system controllers would give pilots control of the aircraft’s speed, direction and braking during taxi operations.
According to easyJet, the goal is for the hydrogen fuel cell to replace the aircraft’s auxiliary power unit (APU), a small gas-turbine located in the tail of the aircraft. The plane will also be fitted with photovoltaic panels on the fuselage to act as an additional energy source to charge the batteries during flight.
The idea has been developed in association with students at Cranfield University, which were set the challenge of coming up with ideas for what air travel might look like in 20 years’ time.
EasyJet said it would set up a working group with industry partners to produce detailed plans, before a trial later this year.
Ian Davies, head of engineering at easyJet, said the hybrid plane concept represented a “vision of the future”. “At easyJet, we are continuing to apply the use of new digital and engineering technologies across the airline,” he said.
The only waste product from the technology is clean water, which easyJet said could be used to refill the aircraft’s water system throughout the flight.
Airlines around the world are under pressure to find ways to reduce passenger jet pollution. Commercial aircraft produced about 700m metric tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2013. If the industry was a country, this would rank it as seventh in terms of carbon emissions, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation, the independent environmental research group.
Government representatives at the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the UN agency that sets aviation industry standards, are due to put forward a global plan to reduce net carbon emissions this year, with a goal to cut them in half by 2050.
Airbus and Boeing, the world’s two dominant makers of large commercial jets, have been experimenting with hydrogen fuel-cell technology in recent years with the aim of replacing the APU, which generates onboard electrical power on the ground when the main engines are turned off.
One of the biggest hurdles is reducing the weight and size of the fuel cells enough to make them viable for use on aircraft.
Financial Times
