Cost Analysis of a Hybrid Airship Vehicle for Cargo Delivery

摘要

Cargo transportation is a very serious business and cost of delivering a pound of cargo for a mile keeps rising every day. Today, there are two options exist; fast but expensive aircraft and slow but inexpensive sea freight. A Hybrid Air Vehicle (HAV) was designed to solve this problem by combining the aerodynamic lift advantages from a lifting body shape and the effectiveness of lighter than air from buoyancy. These combined lifting capabilities gave the HAV enough lifting force to carry additional cargo compared to aircraft and its propeller engine gave it the ability to travel relatively fast compared to sea freight. The cost of transporting a pound of cargo a mile using proposed HAV is $ 0.00022/lb-mile as compared to $0.00043/lb-mile for C-5 Galaxy which translates to nearly 48% saving. The HAV cost 1000% more than sea freight but it is 647% faster.