A Study in Reducing the Cost of Vertical Flight with Electric Propulsion
Michael J. Duffy Sean Wakayama Ryan Hupp
Aerodynamics Engineer Associate Technical Fellow Configuration Engineer
The Boeing Company The Boeing Company The Boeing Company
Ithaca, NY, U.S. Huntington Beach, CA, U.S. Hazelwood, MO, U.S.
Roger Lacy Matt Stauffer
Phantom Works Phantom Works
The Boeing Company The Boeing Company
Ridley Park, PA, U.S. Ridley Park, PA, U.S.
INTRODUCTION
Electric propulsion introduces potential to substantially alter the design of vertical lift vehicles for reduced cost.
A substantive operating cost improvement is hypothesized as a result of decreases in the cost of energy for
flight propulsion, reduced maintenance hours, and reduced unique part count for electric vertical takeoff and landing
(VTOL) aircraft (Figure 1). Energy sourced from the electrical grid costs as little as 30% of equivalent energy
delivered from aviation fuel [1]. Considering that fuel typically comprises 20% of rotorcraft operating costs, this 3x
reduction in energy costs offers the potential for a direct 6% reduction in operating costs for energy alone using pure
battery electric configurations [2].
Maintenance and labor hours account for another 20-30% of today’s rotorcraft operating cost [3, 4]. Electric
propulsion simplifies power transmission relative to mechanical drive trains and encourages transition from
traditional rotor systems with collective and cyclic controls to multi-rotor systems with differential thrust control via
variable speed rotors. Maintenance cost reductions are hypothesized to follow in parallel with simplification of the
rotor system mechanical components; however, this hypothesis must be examined from the standpoint of reliability
of components of the distributed electric propulsion (DEP) system and the appropriate aggregation to system-level
reliability.
Figure 1: Operating cost components for current vertical lift aircraft and technologies that enable total
operating cost reduction
Presented at the AHS International 73rd Annual Forum &
Technology Display, Fort Worth, Texas, USA, May 9–11, 2017.
Copyright 2017 by AHS International, Inc. All rights reserved.
