News / Airfreight can be the pioneer of the age of electric-powered aviation

Airfreight could be the gateway to the electrification of global aviation, with a ready-made market offering the opportunity to prove the viability and safety of battery-powered aircraft to sceptical passengers and regulators.

Efforts to electrify the sector have been hindered, in part, by technology, with batteries not yet sufficient to power aircraft over long distances, and regulators have been struggling to get up to speed on understanding the main safety issues surrounding electric engines.

For Beta Technologies’ head of commercial sales, Patrick Buckles, the answer to both these stumbling blocks is to push electrification through cargo services.

“By dint of not carrying passengers, regulations surrounding mail and cargo carriage have historically been less onerous, and that remains the case today,” He told The Loadstar while showcasing Beta’s conventional take-off electric Alia aircraft.

“Freeing industry to conduct cargo services brings the obvious benefit that it can monetise the operation of electric aircraft, opening funding for further improvements in associated technologies and, perhaps more importantly, demonstrating the safety of electric aircraft to a cautious public.”

Pointing to the origins of conventional air travel, Mr Buckles said it was only after people had been exposed to the use of aircraft for ferrying mail and cargo that their anxieties around flying diminished.

“And we believe the same thing is true when it comes to electric aircraft; we can use freight and mail as a way to prove the safety and viability of the aircraft.”

Beta Technologies is not the sole actor in the development of electric aircraft, but has had recent success conducting a four-month trial with the US military and having received funding from Amazon and UPS.

“Ecommerce is the ideal customer for our aircraft,” said Mr Buckles, “ecommerce alone won’t fill a traditional aircraft, but it can fill one of ours, the Alia boasts 560kg capacity.

“And on a per kg basis, our revenue model is a far smarter option for ecommerce services to isolated communities – islands off the UK coast or the more remote parts of the US – with fuel prices measured in tens of pounds rather than hundreds.”

He continued: “This brings me to the point I was making of cargo being the route to wider market uptake of electric aircraft. If we fly 10,000 tonnes of cargo, passengers are more likely to trust us.”

Fully loaded, the Alia boasts a range of 300-350km, and Beta is pushing forward on certification in the EU, the UK, and the US, which Mr Buckles said he hoped to see attained by 2027, with freight services under way in all three jurisdictions that year.

However, he hinted, this may happen sooner, as there was the potential to see Federal Aviation Administration approval before the end of this year.

Asked how confident he was on hitting the timeframe for certification, Mr Buckles said: “The US airforce has been trialling the aircraft for four months moving cargo and 100% of those flights operated with zero cancellations – this is unheard of.

“But we have built the aircraft to ensure this. Its simple build is key. It has just two moving parts in the engine, in comparison with the hundreds in a traditional engine.”