Electric Ground Support Equipment at Airports

Airport ground support equipment (GSE) is used to service airplanes between flights. Services include refueling, towing airplanes or luggage/freight carts, loading luggage/freight, transporting passengers, loading potable water, removing sewage, loading food, de-icing airplanes, and fire-fighting. Deploying new GSE technologies is a promising opportunity in part because the purchasers are generally large, technologically sophisticated airlines, contractors, or airports with centralized procurement and maintenance departments. Airlines could particularly benefit from fuel diversification since they are highly exposed to petroleum price volatility. GSE can be particularly well-suited for electrification because it benefits from low-end torque and has frequent idle time and short required ranges.