Electricity & Airplanes – Lowering The Carbon Emissions Of Flight – CleanTechnica

Electrification of airplanes and the airline business is moving ahead with new vehicles from Mercedes and Airbus.

There are two news stories out today that focus on different ways of using electricity to reduce the carbon emissions of airplanes. The first comes from Mercedes-Benz, which has worked with several partners to create a refueling vehicle for airplanes that is battery-powered.

We don’t often pay much attention to the all the vehicles that service airplanes when they are on the ground, the ones that bring the jet fuel, transport luggage back and forth to the terminal, shuttle passengers from one part of an airport to another, plow runways, shuttle maintenance people around, and so forth. But look out the window next time you are at an airport or onboard an aircraft and notice all the vehicles scurrying about. Almost all of them are powered by a gasoline or diesel engine, which means they are leaving an invisible cloud of exhaust gases in their wake.