Review, Challenges, and Future Developments of Electric Taxiing Systems

The ever-increasing demand for passenger air traffic results in larger airline fleets every year. The aircraft market forecast reveals an unprecedented growth for the coming decades, leading to serious environmental and economic concerns among airlines and regulatory bodies. Different approaches, for both airborne and ground operations, have been proposed to reduce and control emissions without compromising profit margin. For on-ground activities, the electric taxiing (ET) methodology is one of the suggested solutions for reducing the emissions and the acoustic noise in the airport, and for lowering the fuel consumption and operating costs. This article, thus, aims to review and collate the more important literature related to ET systems, in order to draw an inclusive picture regarding the current state-of-the-art of a moving and growing sector that just started its first steps toward an ambitious target. After introducing the general concept of ET, elaborations on the benefits and challenges of available technologies are done with a detailed comparison of the different systems. Finally, recommendations for future research and outlook on ET are presented.