Electric aircraft became a certified aviation option in 2020, but will stakeholders make it a market success? The new technology offers several potential benefits that motivate adoption, including reduced greenhouse gas emissions, reduced noise and reduced operating costs. However, barriers such as technology uncertainty, limited battery capacity/endurance and the dominance of existing fossil fuel technologies may limit the adoption of e-planes. The rate of adoption of this technology in the first target market, flight schools, will depend on the perceived strengths of these benefits and barriers among key stakeholders: student pilots, instructors, managers/owners, and others. This study provides insights from 186 survey respondents. The top motivation to fly e-planes differed across cohorts as student pilots rated reduced emissions highest while instructors and flight school managers rated reduced costs for training as their strongest reason. Managers also rated the benefits of quieter operations and reduced accident risks more highly than other stakeholders. Battery endurance and the continued dominance of fossil fuel technology were rated as the strongest barriers to adopting e-plane technology. Recognizing and responding to the perceptions of each stakeholder group is critical to enabling market entry and creating a path for electric aviation success.
Electric Aircraft: Motivations and Barriers to Fly
Sustainable aviat.
International Symposium on Electric Aircraft and Autonomous Systems ; 2021 December 16, 2021 - December 18, 2021
2023-08-22
7 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
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