Assessment of the Range of an Electric Aircraft

Abstract

Electrification of aircraft is a rapidly developing area of the aerospace industry. Thus, there are many electric aircrafts in development, testing, or production. Electric aircrafts are currently viable for short range and short time flight missions due to battery-specific energy limitations. Hence, training and commuter aircrafts are feasible targets for electrification. Pipistrel Velis Electro is the world's first certified crewed electric aircraft for pilot training. In this work, Pipistrel Velis Electro aircraft range is evaluated based on solution of longitudinal equations of motion. A simple flight mission that includes take-off, climb, cruise, descent and landing is considered. Electric propulsion components are modelled. The predicted range of the aircraft is 63 nm for a flight time of 43 minutes, which matches favourably with aircraft published data. The study showed that the Breguet range equation overestimates range, particularly at high altitudes. Hence, the proposed approach in this article is necessary for accurate prediction of range for short-range aircraft. Battery capacity-payload-range charts are developed for present and future battery technologies. Aircraft range can be extended to 150 nm if battery capacity is increased to 166 Ah and the payload is only the pilot. Doubling battery specific energy would extend the range to 193 nm with a flight time of 130 minutes.