Electric aircraft technology has gained considerable attention and is rapidly developing to mitigate the environmental impact of air transportation and move toward more sustainable modes. Nevertheless, the unique characteristics of electric aircraft pose significant challenges for the charging infrastructure, which must be effectively addressed to facilitate the growth of electric aircraft. This article provides a comprehensive review of the latest developments and future trends in electric aviation, which covers electric aircraft, battery technology, and electric aircraft charging systems. This article also surveys the possible charging system architectures that can be employed for electric aircraft charging. Various power electronic converter topologies that are suitable for future electric aircraft dc fast chargers are presented. This article concludes by identifying future challenges in the path toward charging electric aircraft and discusses potential solutions to these challenges.

Electric aircraft is a promising alternative to conventional fuel-based aircraft, offering reduced greenhouse gas emissions and enhanced operational efficiency. To ensure seamless operations and optimize energy management, accurate electric aircraft charging demand prediction becomes imperative. This paper presents a study on forecasting the charging demand for future small, short-range electric aircraft. First, battery sizes are determined for various types of small all-electric aircraft and electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. Utilizing the electrical circuit model for lithium-ion batteries, this study derives the charging power curve of electric aircraft under the constant current constant voltage charging strategy. Subsequently, charging demand prediction is conducted using the flight schedule of a selected airport, allowing for a realistic assessment of the power requirements for charging electric aircraft. Finally, case studies exploring charging demand under different scenarios are conducted. The results highlight the substantial power demand associated with the charging process, emphasizing the essential infrastructure needs and potential approaches for managing charging power in electric flight.

The aviation industry, responsible for over 2% of energy-related CO₂ emissions in 2022, aims for Net Zero Emissions by 2050. Despite electric aircraft's environmental benefits and improved operational efficiency, the current battery technology limits their range and size. Based on the optimal system voltage and power profile of the reference all-electric aircraft, this paper presents the design of a hybrid reconfigurable battery pack. The design incorporates a combination of high-specific-energy (263 W h kg^-1 at cell level) and high-specific-power (1800 W kg^-1 at cell level) battery types and its performance is compared with that of a fixed configuration battery pack comprising a single battery type. Simulation results suggest a potential 900 kg (18% lighter than fixed configuration) weight savings with reconfigurable pack, translating into enhanced payload, energy savings, or range extension for 9 PAX Eviation Alice electric aircraft at just 0.4% more energy capacity loss in 500 cycles.

In emerging fast-charging stations, DC fast chargers (DCFCs) are employed which rely on power electronics and control to achieve the required performance. Harmonic emission induced by the complex system behavior is of great concern in the DCFC system. This paper proposes a harmonic emission model for the typical electric vehicle charger design, i.e., two-level active front end. The technique is based on the Fourier series method and the impedance model which is able to reveal the harmonic current emission of DCFCs under different grid conditions. Time-domain simulations are presented subsequently to validate the proposed model.