Vestergaard Company showed the first electrically operated Elephant BETA in Munich three years ago. Since then, the unit has been perfected and is now in operation in six airports around the world.
There was of course skepticism around the electrically operated Elephant BETA when it was presented in 2019. Would it be able to deliver on its promises? Would it be too difficult to charge the units? Would it mean a completely new mode of operation?
Customers have proven all this wrong. Yes, it is a different mode of operation, but mainly for the better. Deicing is now virtually silent. The chassis engine is not idling and spewing out CO2 and other carcinogens inside the airport. The e-BETA can deice 10-20 aircraft on a single charge.
Customers across Europe and North America are now gradually replacing their existing fossil fleet with new electrically operated ones. One customer reports back that they see an 87 percent reduction in CO2. But even with half of that number, the e-BETA is contributing to minimizing the environmentally negative impact of ground support equipment.
The e-BETA can now be delivered with a 40 or 62 kwH battery size. The units have an onboard charger for plug-in, and in situations where there is not enough time for plug-in charging, the Volvo engine can charge the battery in 30 minutes – or about the time it takes to drive to the refill station and back.
See the unit in operation at the Vestergaard Company GSE Expo Europe 2022 Stand EX34.
