As one of the largest service providers in the aviation fuel industry, Skytanking and its partners will develop and operate the first fully electric refueller truck with a capacity of 40,000 litres. Once commissioned, the vehicle will deliver jet fuel to various airlines at Stuttgart Airport. The project is supported by a grant from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK in German).
In addition to the actual design, production and operation of this vehicle, the project aims to deliver further benefits, such as insights into all aspects of airport charging infrastructure and battery life-cycle. During the course of this unique joint industry effort, the project partners will focus on defining safety standards, training and maintenance procedures for this new generation of electric refuellers.
Skytanking will be the the first* service provider to test this size of fully electrical refuellers on a European airport in a real life environment.
The high weight of this vehicle, approx 52 tons when fully loaded, and the driving distances pose very significant technical and operational challenges. This will require new and innovative solutions to be developed by the project partners, including new types of charging infrastructure. The vehicle is expected to enter operations latest by beginning of 2024.
“For the first time, European leaders from different industries are sharing engineering and operational knowledge to shape the future of electrical aviation refuelling. Skytanking, together with our shareholder PrimeFlight, believes this cooperation on electrification will play an important role in bringing change to the transport landscape, successfully contributing to the ambition of net-zero emissions of the aviation sector” said Christoph Lindke, Vice President Northern Europe at Skytanking.
* recent similar projects have only focused on smaller refuelling vehicles with much lower weights and capacities.