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11TH-EASN IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1226 (2022) 012073 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1226/1/012073

Ground infrastructure investments for operation of

hybrid-electric aircraft
A Prapotnik Brdnik, R Kamnik, S Božičnik and M Marksel
Faculty of civil engineering, transportation engineering and architecture, University of
Maribor, Smetanova ul. 17, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia
E-mail: anita.prapotnik@um.si

Abstract. Battery driven aircraft, hydrogen aircraft and hybrid aircraft may begin to appear
at airports between 2030 and 2050. The success of their commercialization will also depend
on development of accompanying ground infrastructure. We will give an overview of required
ground infrastructure for handling battery and hydrogen aircraft including infrastructure for
refuelling battery aircraft as well as production, transportation, safety issues and handling
requirements.

1. Introduction
The invention of the combustion engine significantly changed our way of living during the last
century. It accelerated technological progress and improved our quality of life. Nevertheless, it
came with a price. When discussing negative effects of combustion engines, one has to distinguish
between health and environmental issues. On one side, toxic gasses emitted from combustion
engines like CO, N OX , SOX and carbon-hydrates can be considered local pollutants that can
cause several heart, lung and liver diseases [1]. Similar, long exposure to noise can cause serious
health issues like high blood pressure, anxiety, and insomnia. The concentration of toxic gases
and noise should be regulated and reduced in the vicinity of airports, especially in densely
populated areas. Moreover, if aircraft noise and toxic exhaust gases can be significantly reduced,
airports can be built closer to densely inhabited areas, consequently increasing the accessibility
of air transport to a larger number of potential passengers. On the other hand, CO2 and
N2 0 are not toxic, but due to greenhouse effects, they can leave permanent and devastating
consequences on the climate and environment. The reduction of greenhouse gasses is therefore
a global problem that must be tackled everywhere. Although greenhouse gas emissions coming
from aviation comprise only around 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions, if not reduced, their
contribution may triple by 2050 [2].
Although reductions can be achieved with new technical designs in shape and engine efficiency,
the long term solution lies in switching to a different propellant choice. Three possibilities present
themselves: batteries, hydrogen, and synthetic fuels. Batteries have very low specific energy,
which is an important drawback in aviation, as an aircraft’s energy consumption increases with
mass. Therefore, batteries can be considered an energy source for small aircraft types (general
aviation and partly regional aircraft), or as an addition to primary energy sources to allow full-
electric take-off and landing. On the other hand, the energy density of hydrogen is 2.75 times
higher than the energy density of kerosene (33 kWh/kg compared to 12 kWh/kg), which makes

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11TH-EASN IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1226 (2022) 012073 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1226/1/012073

hydrogen an interesting propellant choice in aviation. Unfortunately, hydrogen has low volume
density and therefore must be either kept in cryogenic tanks in liquid state or in pressurized
tanks, usually at 350 or 700 bar. As these tanks are both large and heavy, all advantages
gained by high energy density can be lost due to heavily weighted tanks. As a much higher
ratio of hydrogen mass and hydrogen–tank systems can be achieved for cryogenic tanks [3])
over pressurized tanks [4], it is expected that hydrogen aircraft would use liquid hydrogen as a
propellant. Hydrogen can either be directly burned, similar to kerosene, or used in a fuel-cell
to generate electricity to drive a propeller. Due to fuel-cell specifications, full-cell technology is
aimed at small aircraft types (general aviation and regional airliner up to 70 passengers), while
larger aircraft are expected to burn hydrogen.
To be able to implement these new aircraft technologies, infrastructure requirements for
aircraft refuelling and handling have to be developed, including logistics and regulations.

2. Ground infrastructure requirements for refuelling battery aircraft

2.1. Charging infrastructure
For the purpose of charging aircraft, charging stations for cars with minimal adaptation can be
used. This includes both AC (alternating current) and DC (direct current) charging stations. AC
charging station can be connected to electric grid with a single-phase or three-phase connection.
If several AC charging stations are used at the same time, a transformer between the grid
and the charging stations may be required. The maximum power output of a single-phase
connected AC charging station is 14kW, while a three-phase connected AC charging station can
provide charging power of 44kW. If aircraft are charged trough AC charging station, an AC/DC
transformer must be installed in the aircraft. Direct current charging stations can provide up
to 120kW of power and do not require an AC/DC transformer on board. On the other hand,
DC chargers have to be connected with the grid trough a transformer.

2.2. Data on aircraft trafic

According to OAG demo database [5], in 2017 fifty European airports operated regular flights
on a 1-8-seater aircraft, 150 airports operated scheduled flights on a 9-19-seater aircraft and 484
airports operated scheduled flights on a 20-70-seater aircraft. Additionally, 18 airports offered
scheduled flights on 1-8-seater and 9-19-seater aircraft, 102 airports offered scheduled flights on
9-19-seater and 20-70-seater aircraft, while and 15 airports offered scheduled flights on all three
size categories of aircraft. The most common range operated by 1-8-seater aircraft was from
2 to 50 km, the most common range operated by 9-19-seater aircraft was from 301 to 500 km
and from 101 to 200 km, while the most common range operated by 20-70-seater was from 101
to 300 km and from 301 to 500 km. Airport distribution per average number of daily flights is
presented in Table 1. Data shows that most airports operating with small aircraft (general and
regional aircraft up to 70 seats) have low utilization. According to privatefly and EBAA [6, 7]
reports, on-demand and business flights operate mainly jet aircrafts and mostly cover ranges
above 500 km with 1-19 seater aircraft and ranges between 300 km and 500 km with 19-70 seater
aircraft. Therefore, this sector is not suited for battery or fuel-cell aircraft, as battery or fuel-cell
aircraft are propeller driven aircraft.

2.3. Charging demand

To identify the demand for electric energy for charging regional aircraft, a case study [8, 9] was
done basing on the number of scheduled flights in 2017 according to OAG basis [5] and presented
above. The energy consumption of full-battery aircraft during cruise can be estimated as

mgR
E= , (1)
(L/D)max µp µe

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11TH-EASN IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1226 (2022) 012073 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1226/1/012073

Table 1. Airport distribution per average number of daily flights

Number of daily flights No. of airports with scheduled flights
1–8 seater 9–19 seater 20–70 seater
less than 1 38 76 177
1–3 11 60 150
3–10 1 14 112
10–50 0 0 45
more than 50 0 0 2

where m is the mass of the aircraft, g is gravitational constant, R is range, (L/D)max is lift to
drag ratio during cruise, µp is efficiency of the propeller and µe is the efficiency of the battery
system (including all energy transformations from battery to propeller, e.g. battery, electric
motor, gearbox). Assuming that the ratio between the mass of the empty aircraft and maximal
takeoff mass is same as for convectional aircraft (0.62 [10]), one can obtain the range R that can
be covered with the aircraft with empty weight me :
ρE (L/D)max µP µE mp
 
R= 0.61 − (2)
1.6g me
The energy used during takeoff and climb can be evaluated as
!
mg vc2 1

E= +h 1+ , (3)
µe µp 2g (L/D) sin φ
where vc is cruise speed, h is the ceiling height and θφ is the angle of climb. Taking µp = 0.8
[10], µe = 0.8 [11], (L/D) = 20 [12], 100 kg per passenger, and ρe = 250W h/kg [13], as well as
probing typical combinations of vc and h, it can be deduced, that full-battery 1-8 seaters can
cover the demands presented in 2.2, but 9-70 full-battery seaters can not.
On the other hand, the required power for take-off and climb is
mg vc
 
P = + vr.o.c , (4)
µp µe (L/D)max
where vr.o.c denotes the rate of climb. As a typical turboprop aircraft has a cruise speed between
400 km/h and 600 km/h and rate of climb between 6 m/s and 10 m/s, comparable hybrid aircraft
would need a battery pack capable of providing 150–300 kW of power per tonne of aircraft mass.
A LiF eP o4 battery pack with the required power output, a specific power of 2 kW/kg, and
specific energy of 0.12 kWh/kg [13] would take up 7.5–15% of the overall aircraft mass, which
is an acceptable solution, taking into account that the consumption in a serial hybrid aircraft
can be further reduced, due to the better efficiency of a generator and electrical motor system,
in comparison with the inner-combustion engine [11].
Taking into consideration above findings, and aircraft utilization presented in subsection 2.2,
the study was conducted to deduce the number of required charging stations at airports. The
study showed that a single AC charging station with 43kW power would be sufficient to charge
all scheduled 19- seater flights in all European airports. Moreover, a single DC station would
cover charging aircraft up to 70 seats at 88% of European airports. The airport with the largest
number of regional flights (Tromsø airport in Norway) would need up to 8 DC charging stations
to cover all its needs for charging regional aircraft up to 70 seats. The charging of regional aircraft
therefore does not present huge increased demand for electric energy and does not require grid
adaptation.

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11TH-EASN IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1226 (2022) 012073 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1226/1/012073

3. Ground infrastructure requirements for refuelling hydrogen aircraft

3.1. Hydrogen production
In nature, hydrogen is found in compounds and has to be extracted by some chemical process.
There is a variety of methods, in which this can be done, some of them more and some less
environmentally friendly. Hydrogen production can be broadly divided into two main categories:
chemical extraction from fossil energy sources or biomass, and electrolysis.
There are several chemical procedures that can extract hydrogen from fossil sources or
biomass, but carbon is always released as a by-product, usually as CO2 . Economically the most
efficient and most commonly used method is hydrogen production by steam reforming, which
extracts hydrogen from methane. Today, 68% of hydrogen is obtained by steam reforming,
mostly for the purposes of the chemical industry. To reduce emissions, carbon dioxide can be
captured during the procedure [14].
At present, only 5% of hydrogen is produced with electrolysis in which water is split into
hydrogen and oxygen using electricity [14]. The CO2 footprint of such process depends on the
way that electricity is produced. Although hydrogen produced by electrolysis with electricity
coming from renewable sources (so called green hydrogen) comprises an insignificant part of all
produced hydrogen at present, this may change in the future. According to [15], the production
of green hydrogen may become the cheapest and most common method of hydrogen production
with a price that may reach even 1-2 USD per kg by 2050. Moreover, European countries
are seriously investing in ecologically acceptable methods of hydrogen production and there are
several projects running that would boost green hydrogen production in Europe [16].

3.2. Hydrogen delivery

Hydrogen can be transported from the production plant to the user by road with either a
tube trailer or cryogenic truck or by pipeline. As aircraft would need hydrogen in liquid form,
hydrogen transported by tube trailer or pipeline must be liquefying before usage. As liquefaction
of hydrogen is a complicated and energy-heavy process, it is economically unviable to liquefy
small amounts of it [17]. Therefore for small and medium airports, or large airport at the
beginning of the transitioning process from kerosene to hydrogen, the most feasible scenario
would be to deliver hydrogen in liquid form by cryogenic truck. Later, as demand for hydrogen
increases, large airports could have hydrogen delivered by pipeline and liquefied at the site or
even establish on-site hydrogen production [18].

3.3. Hydrogen safety

Basic safety considerations for hydrogen systems are described in ISO 15916:2015 [19]. Hydrogen
hazards can be divided into three major categories: hazards due to hydrogen ignition, hazards
related to degradation of material (hydrogen embrittlement, hydrogen attack) and healthy
hazards like hot and cold burns and asphyxiation. Hydrogen is highly flammable and can ignite
in both low and high concentration mixtures with oxygen. Among other known flammable
substances (methane, propane, diesel, petrol), it has the largest ignition range (from 4 to 77
vol. %). Hydrogen flame is often invisible, and special equipment has to be used to detect it.
Hydrogen can also explode, deflagrate, and detonate. It can easily ignite due to open flame,
hot surfaces, friction, or static sparks below the threshold of human sensation. Safety measures
when dealing with hydrogen should include:
• Minimizing the amount of hydrogen handled (operational pressure, mass flow, and storage
capacities have to be as minimal as possible to still allow for normal operation).
• Whenever possible, hydrogen should be handled in an open space that allows good
ventilation.

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11TH-EASN IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1226 (2022) 012073 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1226/1/012073

• Appropriate equipment: constructed from appropriate materials that do not react to

hydrogen, have good resistance to heat/cold, designed, fabricated, and tested according
to standards and regulations, equipped with an adequate ventilation system, and properly
labelled.
• Separating hydrogen from ignition sources and oxidizers (air). This includes purification
of tanks and vessels with inert gas, and keeping tanks and vessels at positive pressure to
prevent intrusion of air.
• Professional personnel: properly educated, and periodically trained, using safe operational
protocols (minimizing exposure, walking in pairs). On-site fire brigade, trained for hydrogen
hazards.
• Well established procedures and maintenance: maintenance of equipment (cleaning,
purging, replacing filters), maintenance of evacuation roots.
• Restricted access and separation of hydrogen facilities from other facilities and people (in
accordance with expected damage area in the event of ignition, deflagration or detonation
of hydrogen)
• Monitoring systems: hydrogen flow detectors, fire detectors, alarms, fail-safe automatic
systems enabling passive safety operation.

3.4. Refuelling procedure and aircraft handling

Hydrogen industry already has established procedures for handling hydrogen. There are
around 150 ISO standards regarding hydrogen and 36 new standards are under development.
These standards relate to various aspects like transport, handling, storage, refuelling, fuel cell
applications and similar. Nevertheless, up to now, there is no standard that would explicitly
address hydrogen as aircraft fuel at airports except ISO 15594:2004 [20] which was withdrawn in
August 2019. Despite this withdrawal, ISO 15594:2004 underlines several vital aspects that must
be taken under consideration when handling hydrogen at airports as aviation fuel. According
to ISO 15594:2004, the airport has to handle the following procedures: normal refuelling during
ground turnaround, refuelling of a warm system before first usage or after maintenance or
trouble shooting activities, defuelling, and handling boil-off. Before refuelling of a warm system,
the tank must be purged with inert gas and precooled with conditioned hydrogen. Before any
refuelling procedure, the connecting hose and coupling must be purged and precooled. During
the refuelling procedure, fuel level, pressure, temperature and position of the valves must be
monitored at one master logic point that can enable automatic reactions in the event of an
accident. Possible interface leakage, heat, and insulation deterioration must be monitored as
well. It is recommended that fuelling takes place directly from portable storage, in which
hydrogen was transported to the airport, to avoid unnecessary additional hydrogen handling
(from truck to storage). Gaseous hydrogen to be vented from aircraft tank due to ground
overnight parking, long-time overhaul, or failure case, can be released directly into atmosphere
safely. Nevertheless, for safety and economic reasons, it is better to provide a system that would
catch the boiled-off hydrogen. This re-caught hydrogen than can be used as fuel for several
ground airport operations.

3.5. Hydrogen demand for small and medium European airports

According to Verstraete et. al., hydrogen tanks can reach a gravimetric index of up to 0.7
[3] which would result in about 10% heavier regional combustion aircraft [21]. Compared to
internal combustion engine aircraft, fuel-cells are more efficient (about 50%). Although electric
motors have a higher power-to-weight ratio, fuel cells have a rather low power-to-weight ratio.
Nevertheless, the power-to-weight ratio of fuel cells is steadily decreasing over the years. It is

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11TH-EASN IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1226 (2022) 012073 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1226/1/012073

Figure 1. Small and medium sized airports in Europe inside a 100 km, 150 km and 200 km radius
form hydrogen production plant (top) and outside a 200 km radius form hydrogen production
plant (bottom).

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11TH-EASN IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1226 (2022) 012073 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1226/1/012073

expected that the power-to-weight ratio of fuel cells can reach 8 kW/kg, while the power-to-
weight ratio of electric motors can reach 10 kW/kg [22]. This would lead to fuel cell aircraft
with a similar maximum take-off weight as today’s convection aircraft. Taking into account
the specific energy of hydrogen, this means that a 19-seat fuel cell aircraft would require about
200 kg of hydrogen for a flight range of over 500 km, while a 70-seat fuel cell aircraft would
require about 700 kg of hydrogen for the same range [8]. According to an average number of
daily flights presented in subsection 2.2, 96 % of airports operating with 19-seater aircraft and
50 % of airports operating with 70-seater aircraft would require less than 1 ton of hydrogen
per day. The busiest airport in Europe with flights operated by 19-seater and 70-seater aircraft
(i.e., Tromsø airport) would require around 44 tons of hydrogen per day. As relatively small
quantities of liquid hydrogen are required, delivery by a cryogenic truck would be a preferable
scenario. Figure 1 show small and medium European airports inside a 100 km, 150 km and
200 km, and outside 200 km radius from the nearest hydrogen production plant. Figure 1 shows
that airports located outside 200 km radius from a hydrogen production plant are mainly located
in Scandinavia, the western part of France, Eastern Europe, and on islands. These airports, due
to their distance from hydrogen producers, could have difficulties in hydrogen supply.

4. Conclusions
Due to health and ecological reasons, several companies, supported by governments through
research projects and initiatives, are developing new aircraft technologies like battery-driven
aircraft, hydrogen aircraft and hybrid aircraft. These new types of aircraft are expected to enter
the market between 2030 and 2050.
Due to the low specific energy of batteries, they are not a suitable energy source for aircraft,
since mass plays an important role in the consumption of aircraft. On the other hand, hydrogen
has a very high specific energy and therefore has great potential as a fuel for future aviation.
Currently, the main disadvantage for hydrogen-powered fuel cell aircraft is the relatively high
price of hydrogen and the insufficiently developed technology. Nevertheless, hydrogen technology
is developing very fast, the specific power of fuel cells is growing and the first prototypes of fuel
cell aircraft are being built. Moreover, the price of hydrogen is expected to fall in the future.
Together with the constant pressure to reduce CO2 emissions, this suggests that hydrogen
aircraft (with fuel cells and/or internal combustion engines) could become the leading aircraft
technology by 2050.
Therefore, adequate infrastructure to enable logistics for a new propellant and handling of
new types of aircraft, must be developed and prepared. Standards and regulation must be set to
manage accompanying procedures. Technology that would enable us to prepare for new aircraft
on the market is already well developed. Nevertheless there are still a lot of work to be done
regarding the adoption of suitable regulations and standards.

Acknowledgments
The research was carried out within the MAHEPA project, funded under the European Union’s
Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 723368. The
chapter reflects only the author’s view and the European Union is not liable for any use that
may be made of the information contained therein.

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IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1226 (2022) 012073 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1226/1/012073

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