U.S. Department of EnergyOffice of Scientific and Technical Information
Airport Ground Support Equipment Analysis
Abstract
Ground support equipment (GSE) plays a critical role in providing services to aircraft at arrival and departure gates, ensuring smooth and efficient airport operations. As the airline industry seeks to reduce costs and expand energy options, electric GSE (eGSE) is emerging as a promising solution. This project examines the integration of eGSE into airport operations, addressing key considerations such as vehicle deployment, charging infrastructure, and grid impacts. We developed a flexible, bottom-up modeling framework to evaluate energy demands and infrastructure requirements across more than 300 U.S. airports, providing actionable insights to support electrification planning and implementation. The study focuses on eight major types of GSE with commercially available electric counterparts: aircraft tractors, ground power units, baggage tractors, belt loaders, cargo loaders, catering trucks, lavatory trucks, and water trucks. Project results include annual charging load profiles, total energy consumption, and the charger and fleet requirements for each airport.
- Authors:
-
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory
- Publication Date:
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- Research Org.:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Idaho National Laboratory
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Transportation Office. Vehicle Technologies Office (EE-3V)
- Subject:
- 32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION; airport; alternative fuels; electric vehicle charging load profiles
- OSTI Identifier:
- 3014721
- DOI:
- https://doi.org/10.15483/3014721
Citation Formats
He, Yi, Kelly, Kenneth, Jeffers, Matthew, Vercellino, Roberto, Ge, Yanbo, and Lunacek, Monte. Airport Ground Support Equipment Analysis. United States: N. p., 2026.
Web. doi:10.15483/3014721.
He, Yi, Kelly, Kenneth, Jeffers, Matthew, Vercellino, Roberto, Ge, Yanbo, & Lunacek, Monte. Airport Ground Support Equipment Analysis. United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.15483/3014721
He, Yi, Kelly, Kenneth, Jeffers, Matthew, Vercellino, Roberto, Ge, Yanbo, and Lunacek, Monte. 2026.
"Airport Ground Support Equipment Analysis". United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.15483/3014721. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/3014721. Pub date:Tue Feb 03 00:00:00 UTC 2026
@article{osti_3014721,
title = {Airport Ground Support Equipment Analysis},
author = {He, Yi and Kelly, Kenneth and Jeffers, Matthew and Vercellino, Roberto and Ge, Yanbo and Lunacek, Monte},
abstractNote = {Ground support equipment (GSE) plays a critical role in providing services to aircraft at arrival and departure gates, ensuring smooth and efficient airport operations. As the airline industry seeks to reduce costs and expand energy options, electric GSE (eGSE) is emerging as a promising solution. This project examines the integration of eGSE into airport operations, addressing key considerations such as vehicle deployment, charging infrastructure, and grid impacts. We developed a flexible, bottom-up modeling framework to evaluate energy demands and infrastructure requirements across more than 300 U.S. airports, providing actionable insights to support electrification planning and implementation. The study focuses on eight major types of GSE with commercially available electric counterparts: aircraft tractors, ground power units, baggage tractors, belt loaders, cargo loaders, catering trucks, lavatory trucks, and water trucks. Project results include annual charging load profiles, total energy consumption, and the charger and fleet requirements for each airport.},
doi = {10.15483/3014721},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Feb 03 00:00:00 UTC 2026},
month = {Tue Feb 03 00:00:00 UTC 2026}
}