Air France converts belt vehicles at CDG airport
The airline Air France announces a cooperation agreement with the French battery recycling start-up CarWatt. The partners aim to replace diesel engines in vehicles used to load and unload luggage with EVs made from recycled materials, including 2nd life batteries.
In the press release, Air France directly connotates the project to the government’s call for increased electric vehicle activity, especially when it comes to batteries.
The electrification of the airline’s ground vehicles, in this case, the conveyor belt vehicles used for loading and unloading baggage on aircraft, will be done gradually.
The current project with CarWatt has begun. CarWatt retrieves used lithium-ion batteries from individual electric vehicles and recycles them to then use as second-life batteries. The first operational prototype for Air France has just gone into service at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport, and the conversion of ten additional belt vehicles is under consideration.
For Air France the benefits of the conversion are not only environmental – they are hoping to save a relatively meager 3 tons of CO2 per year – but also serve to reduce planned obsolescence by extending the life of these vehicles and limiting maintenance costs.
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