Electric Aviation is the future.
SkyZero Newsletter
Beginnings
I still remember the issue of Canadian Aviator magazine that got me started on electrified aviation. I was fascinated by electric cars at the time, and the idea of electric airplanes was blowing my mind.
As a kid, I’d spent enough time in flight sims (starting with Sublogic’s Flight Simulator II) that the idea of a “training” flight seemed like it would be really fun; after realizing there was an electric plane in Canada I started thinking about how to realize this new “bucket list” goal: flying in, or even flying an; electric aircraft.
It would be five years later, in Aachen Germany of all places, that I’d achieve this goal.
Shortly after I started researching electric flight more seriously, starting in September of 2024. I was interested in finding out where in the world electrified flight might be happening, in case there was anything I could do to help. I started collecting tail registrations of electrified aircraft, and gathering flight data. At this stage, SkyZero (then called aircharg.ing) was born. It’s been my sustained hobby since then, and my only vice (besides coffee).
Electric Aviation is poised for rapid growth
The two main categories for electrified flight are “having a moment” right now - Pipistrel electro electrified trainers are breaking out all over Europe, with new entrants coming; and on the EVTOL side, the FAA’s recent moves to provide a certification path for “powered lift” are an accelerant.
While lots of ink is spilled on the possibility of hydrogen, SAF, and others for aviation; I’m mainly interested in things that are actually happening now and might grow - not things that might happen. When I do feel like betting on the future, though, I think the future solutions in aviation will be SAF, possibly Hydrogen, and definitely batteries.
SAF might be best positioned for long haul based on current technology readiness - some SAF is alreay deployed though not at scale
Hydrogen might have a shot at long haul too, though its harder to imagine given how slippery hydrogen atoms are
Electrified, which is happening now, and hybrid electric aviation show a lot of promise in short haul - Heart Aerospace’s ES30 (think Plug in Hybrid EV)
Our focus, in broad strokes
So far, I’m focused on the following:
electric battery aviation and other advanced aviation variants like SAF, fuel cells (including aluminum and hydrogen), and even clean burning fuels
things that are regularly happening now - which means basically just electric and hybrid electric
both autonomous and piloted flight,
cargo, medical, and passenger missions,
fixed wing and VTOL,
flight capabilities and economics (business model)
I will avoid politics. My “Why” is climate change, yours may be performance, energy security, or reducing operational costs. If you’re interested in aviation innovation, so am I. I’m not here to change your mind about politics.
I will mostly talk about aviation that is actually happening, and avoid talking about possibilities; though, I may maintain some analysis pieces on how those emerging possibilities are doing.
I do not intend to get in to using ADSB data track people, or even their particular aircraft. The SkyZero map does not now share tail registrations, nor does it allow you to search for one. There are plenty of sites out there where you can do that.
While I will cover the basic capital expenditures and operating expenses of different aircraft, I will not be hyping OEM companies or mentioning stocks. I’m not an investment analyst.
Near term goals
Some of my earliest posts focused on the research aspect; looking at flight growth month over month, reporting on what’s happening. In one of those posts I predicted that the industry would reach an average of 80 flights per day in June - I’ll follow this up with another chart showing growth, and updated analysis.
I’ve written about how charging is happening today, and I’ll be writing more about that - covering solutions for flight clubs, schools, and even public charging networks - competing standards (GEACS, CCS, GB/T and others), and choices made by the bigger OEMs on both sides - so Joby, Archer, Beta on the EVTOL side, and also Pipistrel, H55, and Bye Aerospace on the trainer side.
I also want to do some “historical review”; looking at things like the Eviation Alice, Volocopter, Lilium Jet - looking at their new ownership, how they might come back to life some day in another format, what choices they made and why.
I also feel like I’ve been accidentally ignoring the most active segment of electrified aviation today - drones. When you look at the FAA’s registration data, Zipline and Amazon are two of the biggest OEMs out there. I’m considering starting a separate map (and associated data stream) to cover where drones are doing real work today.
I may cover what’s going on at some of the busiest and most unique airports:
Teuge in the Netherlands (a hotbed for electric training),
Aix - Les Milles and Albi airports in France (more electric training)
The “electric triangle” of Burlington Vermont, Plattsburgh New York and Montreal Quebec, where Beta operates;
Half Moon Bay and Marina where Joby operates out of in California
Jandakot and Murray Field in Australia
Palma de Mallorca and the Baellaric Islands where H55 and BRM Aero are working on the H55 powered Bristell Energic
Rangiora in New Zealand
Joby’s flights at a Toyota facillity in Japan
If this sounds like content you’d like to see, hit “subscribe”!
How SkyZero works
If anyone is interested in “how the sausage is made”, its essentially two things:
Maintaining the data for skyzero.io’s electric aviation map
Research
SkyZero data Methodology
We connect to different ADSB aggregators for flight data
Some aggregators provide origin and destination airports for us
When origin and destination aren't available we locate the nearest airport to the first spotting for origin, last spotting for destination
We collect aircraft registration data from FAA, Transport Canada, France's DGAC, and ADSB Exchange
We rely on high quality airport location data available publicly
We provide "kg CO2e emissions saved" calculation for fixed wing aircraft comparable to C172, and multiply flight duration x 88kg. When our duration figures are incorrect they tend to be smaller than actual, not larger, so this is a useful minimum, actual is likely higher.
We don't yet attempt to provide calcs for EVTol, partially because most EVTol flight today is mostly certification work
However, once they do begin flying non - certifications we are considering comparing against the Bell 407
Charger locations are accurate as per January 31, 2025, but we do not have an ability to update charger status automatically - please do not use this as a charger planning tool
Our database contains information from ADSB.lol (among other ADSB networks), which is made available here under the Open Database License (ODbL).
If this ever changes, I’ll keep the SkyZero.io “Methodology” page up to date.
Selected articles and sources
Electric Aviation on YouTube does a great engineering analysis of different approaches to electrified flight
Wendover Production’s video on electrified aviation is a great primer on the economics of short haul and the benefits to short haul of electric aviation
EVTol Insights podcast on electric aircraft charging standards talks about the work Australia’s Electro.Aero has done on charging
John Lou: Archer vs Joby does an incredibly deep engineering dive on Archer vs Joby - come for the comparison, stay for the learning
XPlane on Beta was a fun watch given how much time I’ve spent flying the Beta Alia 250 in XPlane
FlightChops on Beta great interview with the Beta folks
Mike Hirschberg at EVTol News on charging standards fantastic coverage of the recent history of electric aviation charging
Heart Aerospace Hangar Day 2024 has some great hints at where they’re going with charging and other topics, and has some great video of them ‘turning around’ a full scale ES-30 prototype
