The Environmental Life Cycle Costs (ELCC) of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) as an input for sustainable urban mobility

Techno-Economic Comparison of Low-Carbon Energy Carriers Based on Electricity for Air Mobility

“…Battery electrification should be the preferred option if the take-off weight is compatible with the payload and the range, which is in line with the conclusions of Zhang et al [43]. However, battery electrification means heavier platforms and the opportunity of such a technology could remain limited to short distances and/or limited payloads and, thus, in competition with public transportation and/or electric cars which are far more efficient [18]. The impact on battery material could also be an issue as aircraft can travel more than 2 million kilometers per year, therefore consuming almost one battery pack per month since the average lifetime of a battery pack is 1350 cycles or 200.000 km [33].…”

“…However efficient it may be, a VTOL aircraft must continually fight gravity and will always consume more energy than a fixed-wing aircraft with a similar payload and range. Although the range of VTOL aircraft is often in excess of 300 nm, and typical missions often exceed this range between refueling, the 80 nm limit was set to take into account the possibility of introducing BE, as some potential air taxi missions are envisaged in the future with BE [18]. The crew is limited to one pilot, and the altitude is up to 4000 feet.…”

“…A heavier aircraft will require higher power requirements and ultimately increased energy consumption. Payload and range also have significant contributory effects [18]. In this study the limited range and payload limit these effects, enabling a comparison with battery electrification (BE).…”

Three-Dimensional Urban Air Networks for Future Urban Air Transport Systems

“…Furthermore, at time t ∆ = 22 min from t 0 , the link dynamic features are useful in managing FV flow on the aerial network. In fact, at node 9, FV 2 switches to L 2 to avoid collision with FV 3 , which is flying in the opposite direction; consequently, link (9-10) is disabled while links (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17) and (17)(18) are enabled before FV 2 arrives. By considering the 3D-UAN at the time t ∆ = 22 min, the link occupation status and the distance travelled by the flying vehicles are reported in Table 5.…”

“…Furthermore, an analysis of people's concerns about this new aerial mobility system carried out by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) [12] has shown that safety and security are the main worrying aspects of UAM services, together with noise, environmental pollution, and privacy violations. Moreover, some studies have found that factors such as noise pollution and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions would have a key role in the successful adoption of UAM [13]. In comparison to usual ground transportation systems, this aerial transportation system includes a third spatial dimension and aerial services are expected to be realized mainly by some (still prototypal) electric Vertical Take-off and Landing (eVTOL) vehicles, which would have reduced environmental impacts compared to current low-altitude aerial vehicles (e.g., traditional helicopters).…”