Comparative economic, energy, and environmental analysis of fuel cell and electric eVTOL systems: Case study of Iberian Peninsula

Electric Vertical Take-off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft represent an emerging market in the early stages of implementation but aim to revolutionize urban and regional mobility through an air passenger transport system based on safety, efficiency, and on-demand accessibility. For this reason, not many previous experiences allow us to standardize decision-making and draw conclusions about which propulsion technology (battery or fuel cell) is more appropriate or what number of vehicles is sustainable in a specific territory. This research aims to fill this gap by presenting a methodology and results of a novel energy, economic, and environmental analysis of implementing a low-occupancy, on-demand transport system based on eVTOL. The methodology considered in this research offers a new perspective to holistically analyze the sustainability of a three-level transport system (short, medium, and extensive distance) in a specific territory and time horizon. Spain, in 2030, has been used as a case study. The results indicate that an energy increase of 5.02%–119% is required depending on the technology and penetration ratio. It has been shown that the origin of the energy must be renewable to produce emission reductions of 4.41%–47.81%. From an economic point of view, the results show that there are scenarios in which eVTOL vehicles can be competitive with other means of transport as they reduce ticket costs by 33.8%–74.9%. • Proposed novel eVTOL transport system based of three different mission levels. • Compares parameters between eVTOL battery and hydrogen systems. • Is presented a novel method to quick pre-dimensioning of eVTOL vehicles. • Competitiveness of price per passenger of the proposed eVTOL system is shown. • The amount of energy and the impact on emissions in three scenarios is obtained.