Analysis of the Electrical Grid for UAM

David Thipphavong

NASA NTRS · 20210023596

Analysis of the Electrical Grid for UAM

Abstract

A wide range of challenges must be overcome to conduct Urban Air Mobility (UAM) operations at scale with electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. This presentation is on an initial analysis of one potential infrastructure challenge for UAM: available electrical grid capacity. The success of UAM is dependent upon the availability of electricity, which will be increasingly impacted by the proliferation of ground electric vehicles over time. Under the best-case assumption that electricity can be transmitted and distributed as needed within each major interconnection (i.e., electrical grid), it is estimated that the maximum number of UAM aircraft that can charge simultaneously in the continental United States will decrease by 20% from 594,878 today to 475,177 in the year 2050.

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David Thipphavong. Analysis of the Electrical Grid for UAM. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20210023596

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