Developing the future of electric aviation
PROJECTS
The project is an interdisciplinary collaboration for sustainable electrification for fossil-free aviation.
The transition to fossil-free aviation means development and competence provision in electric-powered aviation and charging infrastructure at airports. The TakeOff project aims at knowledge-building, innovation, and development of sustainable battery-electric flights, charging infrastructure and resilient electrification at airports, as well as meeting the need for competence supply in the electrification of aviation.
The benefit of the project is to contribute to an increase in skills and knowledge to enable a fossil-free national flight through the electrification of the aviation industry, as well as to strengthen the benefit of interdisciplinary research and development that is ongoing at companies, society, and academia.
Project partners: Skellefteå City Airport, Uppsala University, Luleå University of Technology, Skellefteå Science City, AirForestry, Transportföretagen Flyg, with support from the Resilient Competence Center.
Project period: 2024-2026
Financed by: The Swedish Energy Agency (Energimyndigheten)
Electric flights of the future place new demands on airports, for example regarding available power for charging. In order to meet the electricity supply at the airports, there are various options, such as expanding the electricity network to the airports, supplementing with local battery storage or with local renewable electricity generation.
The YourFlight project is a collaboration between Skellefteå Airport and Uppsala University. A new doctoral student is recruited to Uppsala University to work within the project with a focus in the project area. The research project is based on the latest research and development of electric aircraft and charging infrastructure, as well as identified research gaps in the area.
The three research questions intended to be answered are:
- How can the airport meet the need for electricity for more and more electric aircraft and electric vehicles, with battery storage and/or expansion of the electricity grid locally and what are its advantages and disadvantages and innovation opportunities?
- Which innovations of battery-powered electric aircraft, eVTOL and charging infrastructure can contribute to sustainable, resilient and electrified travel in the coming years?
- What impact do special national conditions have on charging strategies for electric aircraft at airports and what new strategies can be developed to meet national conditions and needs?
The YourFlight research project includes both modeling and experimental work.
The Swedish Transport Administration's R&I portfolio for aviation, towards the target area "Safe, robust and efficient aviation"
Project partners: Skellefteå Airport, through the Elis program, and Uppsala University
Project period: January 2024 - December 15, 2027
Financed by: Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket)
The overall aim of this project is to strengthen Skellefteå Municipality's capacity to develop, pilot and scale up mobility hubs as a system innovation for a climate-neutral and inclusive mobility system in the city.
The specific objectives of the project include:
- Understand the current situation in the city in terms of an ecosystem of actors, their current and future roles, and capacities to jointly implement mobility hubs.
- Strengthen the collective capacity in Skellefteå to manage a transformative portfolio of mobility hub interventions.
- Derive and disseminate lessons learned for relevant actors locally, nationally, and internationally.
Project period: 2022-2024
Project partners: Skellefteå kommun, Skellefteå Science City and KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
Financed by: FORMAS.
The project consists of developing and demonstrating a drone transport line in Skellefteå Municipality, starting from Skellefteå Drone port. The drone transport line will fulfill existing and emerging transport needs of Skellefteå Municipality and business and be integrated into the existing ecosystem.
The project is a system demonstrator where several dimensions need to be coordinated: technology, logistics, permits and regulations, community dialogue, business aspects, sustainability aspects and operational excellence.
Project partners: Katla Aero, Skanska AB, Skellefteå Airport, VTI (State Road & Transport Research Institute)
Project period:
Financed by: Vinnova.
CONCLUDED PROJECTS
The project RES-flyg (Resource-efficient energy system solutions for airports with high share of electric aviation) is a research project funded by the Swedish Energy Agency and Swedavia AB. Participating parties are RISE, Uppsala University, Swedavia and Skellefteå City Airport.
The project will investigate technical and design conditions for the airport as a node in a logistics system for drones, by initially investigating market conditions, by identifying customers, customer needs, business models and possible partners and competitors. The project´s performance goal is a complete design of the scalable system solution that can be applied to all the country´s airports and airports.
Skellefteå Airport, Skellefteå Municipality, Skanska and the British company Urban-Air Port are initiating a collaboration linked to drone logistics. The goal is to integrate infrastructure for drone deliveries in the large logistics area Hammarängen, which is under development in Skellefteå.
The feasibility study will elaborate on electromagnetic interference (EMI) and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) in an autonomous and electrified airport environment. The aim is to create a consortium and plan a project with the goal to understand and manage EMI/ EMC in the airport environment linked to the introduction of electric aircrafts and infrastructure such as solar energy, autonomous systems, machines and devices.
The project is a feasibility study for setting up an Open Area Test Site (OATS) at Skellefteå Airport for
testing the electric and magnetic signals emitted by electric aircrafts, eVTOLs, drones, connected
electrified powertrains and charging infrastructure. A goal is to also offer test for heavy veichles and
collaborate with the Swedish Proving Ground Association (SPGA).
The test site will be unique in its kind as it is set up in an airport environment meaning that tests can
be conducted in the environment, they later will operate in.
OATS is an important complement to the ELIS testbed that is established at the airport and will work
in close cooperation with both the ELIS program and the new Arctic Center of Electrification (ACE)
which is under construction at the Campus area in Skellefteå.
Within this project we have developed a test track for eVTOL. The test track is 13 km long and runs from Skellefteå Airport to Northvolts gigafactory. Main focus is to investigate and learn more about some of the enabling areas that need to be in place to make commercial eVTOL operations a reality.
Testflights have been performed with a large wing drone to learn more about the challenges and opportunities and collect valuable insights to the project. Testflights are important to simulate how future passenger flights can look like, how many minutes flights might take, what the optimal flight height might be, how take off and landing profiles might look like, how flights can be incorporated in the airspace and much more.
By conducting these test flights in real conditions we have created opportunities for further acceleration and development of electric aircraft and eVTOLs.
Read the results from the projekt in full HERE.
Four work packages within the project Test track for eVTOL:
Test track for eVTOL
Within the eVTOL project is a 13 kilometer long test track that runs from Skellefteå Airport to the Northvolt factory.
The main focus is to investigate and learn about some of the areas that need to be in place to make commercial eVTOL a reality.
Watch to film to learn more.