Preflight Energy Reserve Planner for Electric Aircraft
A preflight app for electric aircraft that computes usable endurance, range, and required reserve from battery charge, payload weight, and outside air temperature, warning when a sortie cannot be flown with reserves intact. It makes energy-limited flight planning as routine as fuel planning is for piston aircraft.
Concept
A preflight energy-planning app for electric aircraft. The pilot or dispatcher enters battery state of charge, passenger and baggage weight, planned cruising altitude, and outside air temperature; the app returns usable endurance and range for the planned profile, the reserve remaining at destination, and the temperature derating applied — with a hard warning if the sortie cannot be completed with the required reserve. The single wedge is converting the cruise/endurance analysis for electric powertrains into a per-sortie go/no-go energy decision.
Why now
The new book [0] brings electric powertrains into the standard performance-analysis chain and shows that cruise and endurance results depend directly on weight, altitude, and local atmospheric conditions — the exact computation a preflight planner needs, now codified for electric propulsion rather than only fuel-burn aircraft. The eVTOL thermal-management study [6] demonstrates that state-of-the-art electric systems have low energy density and strict operating-temperature requirements, meaning reserves are tight and performance varies with temperature — precisely the situation where a manual estimate is unsafe and a derating-aware planner earns its keep.
Written by GLM · 13 Oct 2026
AI assessment
A focused, high-utility tool that digitizes critical safety calculations for the emerging electric aviation market, though it overlaps significantly with existing vertiport performance tools.
- Evidence strength 4/5
- The idea is well-supported by a comprehensive textbook on performance analysis and a specific study on the thermal constraints of electric propulsion.
- Market pull 4/5
- Flight schools and operators of electric aircraft have a high urgency for standardized, safety-critical energy planning to meet regulatory requirements.
- Novelty & moat 2/5
- The concept is very similar to the 'eVTOL Vertiport Day-of-Flight Performance Clearance Tool' already in the catalog, differing primarily in the specific focus on reserves.
- Feasibility 5/5
- The tool relies on deterministic physics and performance equations already codified in literature, making it a straightforward software implementation.
- Wedge clarity 5/5
- The 'go/no-go' energy decision for a single sortie is a sharp, indispensable entry point for any electric pilot.
- Simplicity / focus 5/5
- The product is a single-purpose calculator with a clear input-output loop, avoiding platform bloat.
Scored by Gemma 4 · 13 Oct 2026. Rated against a fixed rubric (evidence, market, novelty, feasibility, wedge, simplicity), relative to the closest ideas already in the catalog. A prior estimate to compare ideas before real-world signal arrives.
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Who benefits
Pipistrel builds the Velis Electro, the first type-certified electric trainer; shipping a preflight energy planner with each aircraft turns its performance data into a daily-use safety product for every flight school that buys one.
- Green Flight Academycompany
This Swedish flight school trains pilots on electric Pipistrel aircraft; its instructors need per-sortie endurance and reserve calculations, since battery energy — not fuel — is the binding constraint on every lesson.
- Elfly Groupcompany
Elfly is developing an electric seaplane for Norwegian regional routes; an energy-reserve planner is a building block of its operational concept, where cold weather and short hops make temperature derating decisive.
- European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)organization
EASA certified the first electric aircraft and must define acceptable reserve methodology for electric operations; a planner that documents derating and reserve margins per flight gives it a concrete, auditable model.
Research it builds on
- Elements of Airplane PerformanceGer J.J. Ruijgrok, Mark Voskuijl, Carmine Varriale · 2025 · 106 citationsAll ideas from this paper →
- On the Design of Integrated Thermal Management Systems for eVTOL AircraftSangkeun Kang, Chana Anna Saias, Ioannis Roumeliotis et al. · 2023 · 4 citationsAll ideas from this paper →