Podcast: Electrification of aircraft, an enabler of urban air mobility

TYLER FORD (HOST): Hello. I'm Tyler Ford, general manager of the engine solutions and electrification business for Eaton's Aerospace Group here with another 10 in 10 podcast. Today we're going to be speaking about the future of flight.

The next generation of more electric aircraft goes far beyond just commercial airplanes and military aircraft. The emerging need for urban air mobility is creating new opportunities for transformative electric-powered aircraft. For this particular podcast, we're going to be speaking with Armen Baronian, Director of Power Systems and Emerging Technology for Eaton's Aerospace Group, and focusing on more electric aircraft and how Eaton is positioned to develop innovative electric technologies to support this new market segment.

We've got 10 questions in 10 minutes. So let's get going. So question number one, Armen, so electrification is a mega-trend generating a lot of conversation and driving innovation across many different industries. Can you talk about how the aerospace industry is embracing electrification?

ARMEN BARONIAN: There is an immense number of activities today in aerospace industry to embrace electrification on multiple levels. They are all driven by new regulations to control the pollution, sustainability, and acoustic noise.

Today, at least 250 companies worldwide are trying to revolutionize transportation in and around cities with a new category of aviation called urban mobility or advanced air mobility. Amazingly, top seven companies out of these 250 together have holding more than $5 billion in funding.

However, I must add that more traditional aerospace industry analysts tend to have a more restrained expectations.

TYLER FORD: So on the second question, many of the listeners may not be familiar with what the concept of urban air mobility is. Could you tell us a little bit more about that?

ARMEN BARONIAN: The fundamentals around it is that urban air mobility takes advantage of the airspace above congested cities to better serve the public, businesses, disadvantaged communities, and emergency responders. This newly-born, transformative, airborne technology to transport people and goods in new community-friendly and cost-effective aircraft in urban environments represents the next inflection point in the aerospace industry's ongoing evolution.

TYLER FORD: It's clearly an exciting space. So with respect to it, how does electrification play a role in this domain?

ARMEN BARONIAN: The electrification plays a fundamental role in this new market simply because it provides a viable solution for sustainable transportation in the long run. In particular, one of the first steps towards a viable electrified aircraft is through so-called electrical takeoff and landing, eVTOL, a type of an aircraft that uses electric power to hover, take off, and land vertically.

This technology came about thanks to major advances in electric propulsion, motors, batteries, electronic controllers, and the growing need for new vehicles for urban air mobility, so-called air taxis.

So with all the advantages of electrification, we are obviously facing some challenges that the community is trying to resolve, which is public confidence, appropriate supporting infrastructures, and regulations.

TYLER FORD: So eVTOL certainly seems like an exciting space, Armen. What applications do we see eVTOLs being utilized the most?

ARMEN BARONIAN: Great question, Tyler. So we feel that the applications in the early stages of technology development will be primarily transportation of goods and emergency services. Once we have the public acceptance that reaches higher level of confidence, the number of applications may well be endless, such as air taxi services from city airports to congested urban city areas, reducing the commuting time from maybe hours down to minutes. And the story goes on with monitoring wildfires, marine life, forests, and monitoring coastal health.

The list goes on and on. And as I said, the opportunities will be endless.

TYLER FORD: So for those that are not within the aerospace industry, for our vehicle and electrical sector colleagues, what should they think about in terms of the benefits of eVTOLs and how it might apply to them?

ARMEN BARONIAN: There are wide range of social and sustainability benefits that I would frame it. And those include decarbonizing over time, transportation with zero-emission aviation, using clean electric and alternative fuel technology, improvement in agriculture and minimizing fertilizer and pesticide use through prescriptive farming techniques, definitely delivering retail goods to residences, thereby reducing the number of trucks, including their noise and polluting exhaust, from neighborhoods, and last but not least, eliminating other pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds and unburned fuel. It will enable a green environment for our kids and all the future generations.

TYLER FORD: So what do you think it will take for eVTOLs to become a heavily-adopted form of transportation?

ARMEN BARONIAN: Each new technology comes with its own risks and challenges, I would agree. And electrification of aircrafts in its first exceptions through eVTOL is no different. It will take an effort from regulators, governments, academia, and innovative companies like Eaton to overcome major challenges to adopt this new technology and embrace this market opportunity.

So to mention some of the challenges we need to address, public perception of safety related to these new vehicles, come up with lightweight technological solutions, invest in charging infrastructure that is lacking, utilizing automotive electrification to reach economies of scale for cost reduction, and lobbying the governments to come up with some incentives and programs to support the whole market segment during the early days of electrification of aircrafts.

TYLER FORD: How are we going to charge these things? Are we going to see charging stations located in the parking lots of your favorite supermarket or store? Or is it going to be on top of buildings or separate pads outside of town? How do we think about the infrastructure needed to support eVTOLs?

ARMEN BARONIAN: So many of early adopters of electrification, in particular OEMs, are just starting to think about charging and challenges associated with aspect of electrification. So the initial thoughts are going around local airports and roofs of the buildings where these landing so-called verti-pods will be installed.

However, the major challenges that this concept creates is how to provide power for charging in already strained power grids that congested urban centers are facing. So therefore, Eaton is involved in all aspects of solutions that will support these weak grids through battery storage solutions and innovative grid management that Eaton is a world leader in.

And not to forget, always future-looking, Eaton recently made an investment through acquisition of Green Motion, world leader in electrified aircraft charging. So we are ready.

TYLER FORD: So as we think about preparing for this more electric aircraft future, what specifically is Eaton doing to align our strategy around that?

ARMEN BARONIAN: Eaton is doing a lot in order to provide competitive solutions that meet the highest demands for power density. So Eaton is investing in the enabling technologies that would meet stringent requirements of aerospace industry. These are clearly defined as power electronics, switching devices, packaging, thermal management, additive manufacturing, and investment in base materials and material science.

It is Eaton's view that the early engagement with eVTOL technology is providing extremely valuable exposure to problems associated with a given application. These early developments and associated learning outcomes from eVTOL applications are serving as a baseline and testbed for scaling up technologies to fulfill demands of larger electrified aircraft platforms, such as regional and potentially single-aisle, more, or all-electric aircrafts.

TYLER FORD: So what's different for aerospace applications than, say, what e-mobility is doing supporting electric vehicles? How should we think about the subtlety, the nuance, the difference between those respective markets?

ARMEN BARONIAN: The major metric for aerospace is lightweight, while e-mobility or automotive electrification strives for low-cost. That's the major difference in requirements in those two adjacent segments.

Regardless of these differences, we at Eaton are trying to leverage base technologies underlying all electrification efforts from automotive commercial vehicles and even industrial applications to be more cost-competitive and efficient.

TYLER FORD: Absolutely agree, Armen, great points. So from Eaton's perspective, what does the future of aviation look like, eVTOL and beyond?

ARMEN BARONIAN: So Eaton believes the future of aviation will be electric, which is great for us. It may take us decades to get there, but it will come. We have a unique combination of electrical and aerospace competencies that is placing the company as the right player in electrification in the UAM space.

In the UAM space, Eaton is committed to becoming a leader in electrical power and propulsion systems for electrified aircrafts, digitalization by embedding predictive health monitoring, and designing systems compatible with the electrification charging infrastructure ecosystems. We talked about that previously.

In the meantime, we are making baby steps by working with major OEMs, developing technologies that fit their needs, maturing those technologies, making sure that we are ready for tomorrow.

TYLER FORD: Thank you for your time today, Armen. To learn about how we're enabling next-generation aircraft, please visit Eaton.com/aerospace.