safran etaxi a320
Several years ago, in 2013, eTaxi was a hot subject. The aircraft above was seen demonstrating this at an air show. This idea seemed novel and had big names behind it, evidenced by the brands on the plane. You can view a video from SAFRAN here. We have been following the e-taxi story since 2013.
Aviation Week addressed a great question: “Why Do Airlines Continue To Resist Electric Taxi Motors?” The idea of cutting fuel burn and noise is, you would think, self-evident. Not to mention lower FOD, better ground handling, and other benefits.
A review of patents granted to people looking into electrically powered aircraft taxi generates a long list. The list includes some big industry names and several pioneers and entrepreneurs. Although the aviation industry has not adopted these technologies, significant progress has been made behind the scenes.
A New Entrant
We are interested to learn that the subject may be restarting. The news release lists all the apparent reasons why the technology should be attractive to aircraft operators. The release offers metrics: “Powered by the aircraft’s auxiliary power unit (APU), the system offers estimated annual savings of 80,000 gallons of fuel and $250,000 per aircraft.” Those are impressive numbers that must be validated.
Potential US Impact
The Zero Engine Taxi solution will start with the E-175. Focusing on the Embraer regional jet is appropriate. These charts illustrate the point. The E-175 is by far the busiest regional jet in US service.
Fleet operations for the US provide this table.
Therefore, if one aircraft can potentially save an airline $250,000 per year, the 680 US-based E-175 fleet could generate $170m in annual savings. That would be 54.4m gallons of fuel saved. These are numbers you cannot ignore. The airlines that need to take a look at these numbers are in the table. But the biggest regional airline is SkyWest, which does most of the industry’s regional flying.
While we are using the Zero Engine Taxi numbers to derive the impact, any e-taxi solution should have a similar positive effect. It will be interesting to see how this new entrant and its approach proceed.
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