Airbus' Electrically Powered Aircraft as an Answer to the European Union's Low-Carbon Policy

Abstract

Air transport is currently the fastest developing branch of transport, and airlines get to carry more and more passengers and cargo every year. At the same time, societies are more aware of environmental damage caused by transport, which is why the European Parliament developed a document titled An Aviation Strategy for Europe, which points out actions that should be taken inorder to make air transport more environmentally-friendly. One of the assumptions is to reduce the greenhouse gas’ emission. The European Parliament suggests the use of biofuels as one of pos-sible solutions to reduce the negative impact that air transport has on the natural environment. However, airplane manufacturers come up with different ideas how to reduce emission. Airbus in cooperation with Siemens and Rolls-Royce are working on an electrically powered aircraft. The project they are working on is called E-Fan X and it involves replacing one of airplane’s four turbine engines with an electric motor with a capacity of 2 MW. The first tests are to be performed next year. The paper describes the idea developed by Airbus, points out its advantages and disadvantages, and forecasts what impact the appearance of electrically powered aircraft will have on the environment and airline industry. The paper will be based on author’s own knowledge and gathered materials, and also on literature analysis, deduction and empirical research using non-experimental methods.