Building the backbone of electric flight

Deep Dive

by Yves Le Marquand

3 March 2025

You will likely have heard of Beta Technologies, but probably not Aerovolt. That said, the unofficial mantra the two companies live by is very similar – shout about what has been done, not what could be done.

This is handy for the burgeoning electric aircraft sector, especially when it is carried by two of the companies which have made it their mission to establish aircraft agnostic charging networks, aka the backbone of battery-electric flight operations.

In all the furore surrounding OEM closures and aircraft programme pauses, it has been easy to get lost in the negativity. But, market entry for the first cohort of electric aircraft (notwithstanding Pipistrel’s Velis Electro and the ongoing push in China) is still only just around the corner. This year has also seen EASA certify Safran Electrical & Power’s 125kW ENGINeUS 100 electric motor, which is set to be used in more than five aircraft including those being developed by Electra.aero and Diamond Aircraft.

With a rough timeline of 2027-2028 for the first electric aircraft type certifications in the US and Europe, two or three years is not a long time to establish an electric charging network. Fortunately, a number of companies – Beta and Aerovolt being two examples – have already got to work in establishing charging infrastructure on both sides of the Atlantic.

Beta is one of the most well-regarded electric aircraft developers in the current class of hopefuls. The Vermont-based company is developing two electric aircraft – CTOL and VTOL – variants, as well as its electric charging network and various related charging products. Whilst it, like every other eVTOL developer to date, has not publicly revealed a conforming prototype, Beta is one of the only class members to perform piloted transition tests in a full-scale demonstrator, underlining its ‘action over words’ motto.

The networks

Today, Beta has grown its charging network to 47 sites in 22 states for public and private use across the east, west and gulf coasts of the US. Customers include Archer Aviation, Signature Aviation and Atlantic Aviation, as well as the State of Michigan amongst others.

Beta’s chargers are multimodal and interoperable, with land and airside connections capable of powering electric aircraft and ground vehicles.

“We realised quickly that we’d need infrastructure in order to operate our aircraft,” a spokesperson for Beta tells us. “Nobody was building it, and we had a confluence of expertise in power electronics and energy storage – and an understanding that we would care the most about developing a highly reliable, well-distributed network.”

Following near 200% growth in its charging network in 2024, Beta plans to continue rolling out to more than 20 new US sites this year, as well as establishing its first international sites.

Just shy of 3,280 miles away in Abbey Wood, southeast London, Aerovolt has similar plans, but is just a little later in the execution. It has seven sites installed in the UK, with at least another 35 signed to join the network. The startup is also in the contracting stage on about 50 sites in the US, with a global pipeline today of more than 300 chargers slated to join the network, including in Europe and Australia.

Alan Kingsley-Dobson, chief operating officer at Aerovolt, tells us: “All current and future sites will be new CCS chargers. So there will be a bit of time before that happens, but we should have the current and more UK sites along with the first few USA sites installed by end of the year.”

Aerovolt has partnered with H55, a Swiss company developing electric propulsion and battery systems for aviation, to offer customers of H55’s B23 Energic aircraft a potential charging solution at their airfield or flight school. Kingsley-Dobson also confirmed the company is in talks with a number of other industry stakeholders including OEMs and vertiport builders – all of which remain under NDAs.

Standards

Arguably the biggest word in the charging conversation is ‘standardisation’. This centres around the choice of charging coupler that plugs into the aircraft. Anyone who has used an electric car, especially those who have driven a few different makes, probably remembers (or would like to forget) a few stressful occasions where they pull up to a charger only to find it didn’t have the coupler they needed, it is out of order or the fast-charging option had just been taken by another driver.

In the UK and Europe, there are three charging coupler standards for EVs. Type 2, which is used most commonly in chargers at home or work and is capable of AC slow charging typically ranging between 7-22kW; Combined Charging System (CCS) 2, which pairs Type 2 AC and two DC pins for fast charging, typically found at motorway service stations; and, CHAdeMO, designed by Japanese automakers, which is mainly used for DC fast charging.

In the US, CCS1 is the primary coupler for fast charging. However, the North American Charging Standard, formerly known as the Tesla proprietary connector, is also very popular having been open for use by other manufacturers since November 2022 – Tesla chargers in Europe use CCS2. CHAdeMO and Type 2 can also be found in small numbers.

If the above was as clear as mud, then the need for a single defined charging standard for electric aircraft should be crystal. Luckily, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) is on this, having endorsed the Combined Charging Standard (CCS) back in 2021. And a number of OEMs have aligned themselves with GAMA’s approval including Archer Aviation, Airbus, Pipistrel, MagniX and Heart Aerospace.

“The protocol and communication will be slightly different to automotive though. The way the plug and charger will identify the aircraft and allocate sessions will be aviation specific,” Kingsley-Dobson explains. “But the plug will be the same.”

However, some companies, most notably Joby Aviation, are developing their own standards. The California-based eVTOL developer has designed what it calls Global Electric Aviation Charging System (GEACS), releasing the specifications to the public in November 2023. In January last year, Atlantic Aviation announced it was partnering with Joby to install GEACS at Atlantic FBO locations in New York and Southern California.

Joby’s creation of its own charging system could be likened to what Tesla did with its proprietary connector that became the North American Charging Standard. Although doing what Tesla did requires being the first to do it big.

Beta and Aerovolt are both deploying chargers with CCS standards, typically CCS1 in the US and CCS2 in Europe. The difference between the pair is the power of the charger. Beta’s Charge Cube is a fast charger at 320kW, similar to outlets found at service stations. Whereas Aerovolt is initially putting in slow chargers – about 30-50kW – such as those found usually at home or work.

Kingsley-Dobson says: “All Aerovolt chargers will be CCS for Europe and USA for the foreseeable future, most OEM’s have already agreed on this via GAMA. When fast charging becomes viable and there are more operators we will begin to look at the off-aircraft Glycol chiller systems.” A glycol chiller system helps to manage the temperature of the charging system, particularly when high-power DC fast charging is involved, as is the case with eVTOL aircraft.

Beta’s spokesperson says: “We’ve designed our infrastructure using CCS because it’s an existing, peer-reviewed standard that is both multimodal and interoperable, so it can serve the widest variety of vehicles, including cars, vans and planes. Our charger system prioritises optionality. The modular design – which separates the charge from thermal management and cabin conditioning – allows the widest population to utilise it, independent of their unique aircraft design.”

Maximising availability, revenue

When installing chargers, both Beta and Aerovolt try to provide landside connections wherever possible. These connections, usually in the airport carpark, allow the public to use the charger to refuel their electric vehicle.

According to Beta, once a utility is installed at an airport, it is relatively simple to install a landside charger as well. “This new capability is an economic driver for airports, and an access advantage to communities,” says the spokesperson.

Adding landside connections wherever aircraft chargers are installed also helps to contribute towards ambitious government targets for electric vehicle charging points. As of April last year, in the US, there were about 145,000 public charging outlets, with a goal of 500,000 public chargers installed across the country by 2030. In the UK, as of January 2025 there were about 74,000 public electric vehicle charging points. The aim is to hit 300,000 by 2030.

Kingsley-Dobson agrees. “It makes sense to electrify the whole site. We have some vehicle chargers already and will assess on a site-by-site basis what is feasible.”

Lead time and funding challenges

But electrifying an airport is not typically an overnight process. Beta says lead time for supplies is probably the biggest challenge it has run into. “It can take some time to upgrade the utility at an airport, so we are working with airports now to ensure they’re ready once these aircraft are in service.”

It can also be expensive to electrify a site, and this could potentially inhibit smaller airfields and operators from making the transition to electric aircraft until costs come down. A potential solution for some could be a cost-sharing structure split between the airport and the operators using its facilties.

Funding is a big issue, according to Kingsley-Dobson. “You’re in a chicken-and-egg scenario,” he says. “OEMs want to start selling aircraft, but no-one is going to hand over the cash for them without the network in place. Without a network it’s not a viable product or a usable business asset either, but you need to deploy the cap ex before the first ever charge session.

“Fortunately we are working with a lot of the OEM’s, understanding where customers are likely to be so the network can be somewhat targeted as well for initial installations,” he adds.

What next?

With commercial electric aircraft services like flight schools already operational, and cargo and passenger-carrying flights just a few years away, Beta and Aerovolt are set to continue the rollout of their respective networks.

According to Beta, the infrastructure network is essential to the future of AAM, and it hopes others follow suit in building it out. “It is not a zero-sum game, especially once these aircraft enter service and there are additional points of real estate beyond airports where this technology can be installed,” says the spokesperson.

Aerovolt is starting with a small and easy to install aircraft charger that facilitates aircraft available now, as well as those coming in the next two to three years.

Kingsley-Dobson says the company’s thinking isn’t so much about changing the way we travel or trying to usher in a sci-fi future, rather the need to give aviation a “focused” reason to “embrace electric aircraft from trainers to eVTOLs and larger regionals”.

“For example, a flight school needs a viable business proposition to purchase an electric aircraft and keep their business going in the future, particularly with increasing pilot demand,” he says.

Through all of that the unofficial mantra holds true. “I would say the emerging AAM industry is guilty of far too many CGI renders and speculative plans,” says Kingsley-Dobson. “I’ve always been a hands-on builder, get the show built and lights up. We need it done yesterday.

“Much more ‘look what we’ve built’, rather than ‘look what we could build’.”