High-Speed Mobility through On-Demand Aviation

摘要

Many technical and regulatory gaps exist for establishing on-demand aviation that can achieve a large market share. However, small airport infrastructure already exists that can be leveraged to achieve a near-term capability. The goal of a Zip Aviation system is to achieve an order of magnitude improvement in mobility reach, thereby providing increased regional productivity and an alleviation of resource scarcity in established urban communities. Figure 20 indicates a timeline for electric aircraft range and speed capabilities that was proposed at the beginning of this study, derived from extrapolations from the Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) seen at the 2011 NASA GFC. However, this study indicates that such estimates are highly conservative, and that there is the potential, as aircraft are fundamentally redesigned to take advantage of unique electric propulsion characteristics, to jump to performance levels that were suspected not achievable until 2040 within the next 10 years. This is a unique NASA role to help advance the aircraft multi-disciplinary design; showcasing the incredible degrees of coupling that electric propulsion offers, and combining this with the incredible levels of investment the battery industry is experiencing. Just in the period it took to perform this study, the energy density of lithium batteries have gone from an accepted industry level of 200 Whr/kg to 240 Whr/kg with the introduction of the latest Panasonic 18650 cell. Not only is the energy density increased by 20%, but the chemistry is more robust to achieve a safer battery pack that can tolerate less battery management system oversight.