# Building Scalable Charging Infrastructure for eGSE Fleets

## Метаданные

- **Канал:** AviationPros.com
- **YouTube:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4WZskFE958
- **Дата:** 04.06.2026
- **Длительность:** 27:49
- **Просмотры:** 2

## Описание

Source:
https://www.podbean.com/eau/pb-x8ezd-1aded49

As airports accelerate the shift to electric ground support equipment, charging infrastructure is emerging as one of the biggest challenges. In this episode of the AviationPros Podcast, Damien O'Regan, Product Strategy Lead at Enatel, discusses how operators can plan for power constraints, manage mixed fleets, avoid costly infrastructure mistakes, and build charging networks that can scale alongside electrification efforts. From charger standardization and energy storage to long-term fleet planning, O'Regan shares practical insights for airports navigating the next phase of eGSE adoption.

## Содержание

### [0:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4WZskFE958) Segment 1 (00:00 - 05:00)

Welcome to the Aviation Pros podcast, the go-to platform for professionals in the aviation industry, powered by aviationpros. com, the leading source for comprehensive news, insights, and data on airport operations. Whether you're focused on airport management, improvement programs, ground handling, equipment, MRO, or FBO operations, we've got you covered with the expertise and resources you need to stay ahead. — Hello everybody. This is Jenny Lecohair. I'm the editor of Ground Support Worldwide. And today I'm here with Damian Organ, product strategy lead at NSL. And he's going to talk to us about some technology that facilitates charging um GSSE on ramps. So Damian, why don't you start by telling us about Nutel's technology and its role in facilitating the adoption of charging infrastructure that supports mixed fleets. — Sure. Hi. Hi Jenny and thanks for this opportunity uh to share the perspectives of a charger manufacturer. I'd like to probably start with uh my role uh because it helps shape how we think about charging infrastructure. I've been involved in global industrial battery charging uh for almost 30 years now. Uh I lead uh product strategy at NEL and the simplest way to describe that is it's my job to provide uh visibility uh recommendations, advice through research uh knowledge and market engagement which make sure that we're solving the right problems. uh and that we don't develop or don't we don't create a constraint tomorrow. Uh an approach that's always stuck with me comes from Michael Porter who said the essence of strategy is choosing what not to do and I think that's especially relevant in electrification where there's no shortage of technology options and some of it may add complexity and it may limit uh future choices. A little bit about Inel. Uh Inel is a global designer and manufacturer of industrial battery charging technology. Uh since 2018 uh we've been part of Ideal Industries which is a 100 plus year old family business which is uh headquartered in Illinois. Initel's been developing and manufacturing battery chargers now for uh some decades. uh we have many uh hundreds of thousands of charges and systems deployed across uh material handling uh telecom networks and other mission critical uh environments. Uh where uptime isn't optional, it's really essential. So we're probably not a household name. A lot of our products are private labeled uh through OEMs and sold via a network of uh channel partners. One of the most relevant experiences for us was the evolution of mobile networks. Battery chemistries were changing, art architectures were changing and we help had to help them upgrade uh without rebuilding their electric electrical uh infrastructure. But a consistent mindset across multiple sectors is that you know it's about making the most from the infrastructure you have. Uh and this is directly relevant to airports today and perhaps even more so when we think about the timing uh the impact uh reality is that most airports aren't transitioning towards mixed fleets. Uh they're actually they already have mixed fleets uh which is a long-term reality. Uh there's legacy diesel uh early lead acid uh first generation lithium and now the newer uh high voltage uh lithium vehicles all running side by side you know different voltages uh different connectors different chemistries different duty cycles and this fleet keeps evolving on highway and off highway architectures all meeting. So I would say that electrification at airports uh started as being uh fleetled uh where airlines uh OEMs and handlers bought electric equipment and then the charges followed. But I think as scale increases, electrification has become more about being infrastructure aware uh because it now must consider uh grid capacity uh load management and long-term planning. And this is not dissimilar to the challenges that we see

### [5:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4WZskFE958&t=300s) Segment 2 (05:00 - 10:00)

in electrifying and automating our warehouses around material handling. We'd like to think that operators shouldn't have to rebuild infrastructure every time the fleet changes. So the role of the charger in our role is really to uh absorb that complexity. That's why our chargers were designed to uh support any chemistry across a wide voltage range uh from uh 24 to 96 volts. And it means that operators aren't locked into a single technology path. They don't have to make premature decisions about where their fleet is heading. The other point is I think that modularity plays a big part uh of that philosophy. Uh it allows operators to start small uh add capacity over time instead of buying new hardware as their fleet grows. It's really a sensible way of future proofing uh and scaling. Um the charger chosen today really shapes the success of the infrastructure transition. It uh determines how flexible you can be and how easily you can scale, how much freedom you have uh in your fleet strategy uh further down the road. Am I correct that you are referring to Inutel's uh the outdoor charger is the the technology that we're talking about. Is that correct? — Uh that that's correct. We've got um well a range of uh chargers both indoor and outdoor. So for any GSSE applications that demand indoor charging or outdoor charging. Yes. So but yes we do have an outdoor charger as well. — Okay. Thank you for that clarification. But it is um for the listeners who may not be familiar, it is a or I will let you describe it, but what is what is the technology look like? — Uh so it's a uh well it's a large box really. Uh simply put, it's a uh cabinet uh that's been tested uh to various uh compliance requirements. Nema uh 3RX and it's an IP54 enclosure. Uh and within that enclosure we have power electronics. Uh so we have modular battery charging modules um which allow scalability uh and continuity. So if a module were ever to fail, uh the charger is still operational. Uh so it's not offline and it's simply replaced uh hot plug. You just open the door, replace a module in a couple of minutes. And yeah, that's I mean it's flexible. So it's um it has this versatile uh functionality built in. So it uh adapts to any battery voltage uh and capacity and uh any chemistry. Yeah. So it's a um it's quite unique and it's also highly efficient. So it's over 97% peak efficiency uh which is industry leading and we were first in uh the US to satisfy the CEC efficiency requirements in material handling. So we've really taken a wellproven architecture uh which um was demanded in telecommunications originally that foundational modularity uh scalability, continuity, high efficiency and versatility and have really just applied that into first material handling and now into GSSE. So for ramp teams that are thinking about charger placement from an operational standpoint, what would be your recommendations or how can they approach that? — Uh from a uh operational standpoint to placement, charge a placement. Um — yes. — Yeah. So I can talk to this really based on what I've been told uh sort of directly and anecdotally. I guess some of the easiest way to think about uh charger placement of chargers is absolutely strategic. So where a charger lives on the ramp, it affects vehicle availability, uh turnaround efficiency, it affects workflow. I think the first step uh should always be a power audit uh which is particularly relevant today. Uh before anything is installed, uh operators need to understand the uh available capacity at each location. Uh what the load profile looks like uh across shifts and the best placement is where really where operational need and uh electrical

### [10:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4WZskFE958&t=600s) Segment 3 (10:00 - 15:00)

reality overlap. A good starting point I think is uh deploying charges on the highest utilized vehicles which could be uh baggage tugs for example and that may be where you get the biggest operational benefit uh the clearest data on how systems behave um based on today's technology. Uh dualport charges are also worth mentioning. You know, within space constrained environments, they've been popular in some markets. Um serving two vehicles from a single connection uh reduces that wiring overhead and physical footprint. And then there's the environmental side. uh the outdoor rating uh ensuring sufficient weatherproof uh the construction uh is compliant to various standards. Ours is IP54 and NEMA 3RX. But it then gives operators placement uh flexibility. So you can put charges where they're operationally needed and have uh the utmost confidence in their performance. Now, from a ramp perspective, charging um charges the placement isn't really about distance. It's it should be about time. And we've certainly seen that in the context of handling in large distribution centers where, you know, if a driver has to walk out of their way or remember to plug in, uh the charger really is too far away. So the best locations are where equipment naturally pauses around gates and staging areas. A simple rule is a driver has to remember to charge then the placement's probably wrong. — You mentioned I think a power audit is how you put it. How does this process work? When someone invests in this technology, does someone from your company come out and sort of assist in the engineering of it or you know how does this process look? Um we really as a specialist in manufacturing uh and supporting we have a network of uh authorized representatives so partners in market uh and they would be involved in that process. Uh we have a uh a culture of you know um being customer advocates uh and working very closely with them. Uh so we do have a support team that is involved in that process with uh these companies uh and they really need to get on the ground uh and uh provide sort of eyes on their um on these facilities and understand the technical uh the limitations which are really emerging at the moment. particularly uh much of this infrastructure just was never uh designed facilitated around uh electrification. Uh again this isn't dissimilar to what we're seeing in many other sectors. Uh but you know a power audit looking at uh circuits and capability uh really helps provide the full picture. What are some best practices for integrating charging into turnaround cycles without adding delays or complexity for ground crews? Because you had mentioned like if somebody forgets to charge, it's there's a problem. Um, are there best practices that you can talk about? — Yeah, I I think the goal must be to build charging into the natural cadence of operations. So you're not creating a separate workflow around it. Uh and I think there are really two layers to that conversation. It's how we integrate charging with the products and infrastructure that we have today. Uh but also how we can make the decisions we're making now won't be barriers to future architectures, particularly with the emergence of things like automation, uh wireless charging, and more intelligent energy systems. So if we look at the drivers behind electrification which you know regulatory pressure uh sustainability commitments operational efficiency it's really that last point operational efficiency where I think that uh charging practices really matter uh operational efficiency is about keeping vehicles available uh without adding friction and one way is opportunity charging. It's probably one of the more effective ways to do that. Plugging in during break times or idle times rather than waiting for uh deep charge cycles uh keep vehicles ready without disrupting turnaround. So little and often works far better than big infrequent charges. Uh another point would be uh data visibility. Uh when

### [15:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4WZskFE958&t=900s) Segment 4 (15:00 - 20:00)

supervisors can see battery state and charge status across the fleet, uh they can make uh smarter decisions about which vehicles are ready, uh which may need more time. And so it removes that guesswork. Uh avoids those moments where a vehicle may look available but isn't actually available. And uh ground crews um ground crews, they don't think in kilowatt hours, they think in availability. uh if the vehicle is ready when they need it, then things operate more smoothly. Another really big point I think is uh standardization. Um when charges have consistency across different assets, the same connectors, uh the same user experience, crews don't have to relearn things vehicle to vehicle, charging becomes uh almost invisible, which is exactly what we want. Uh so the best practice is really to uh integrate charging into uh today's operations but also make sure that the infrastructure you're putting in place leaves room for the inevitable next uh generation of technologies. — Are operators using charger or battery data effectively yet? Is that something that's still an opportunity to come or how would you characterize that? — Yeah, it's an interesting question. I would say right now uh most operators uh use charging data reactively. Uh so they're looking at alarms and basic reporting. Uh I think the bigger opportunity is around uh operational intelligence. uh which means uh you know using data to identify uh bottlenecks before uh crews are will feel them. Uh aligning charge profiles with me duty cycles. Uh reducing uh battery wear and managing load as fleets scale. And for most operators this is I think still largely untapped. And it's a huge opportunity as fleets grow. We're moving quite quickly, I would say, towards a connected infrastructure where the charger becomes a data node uh in a broader uh energy management system. So, chargers like ours have uh API connectivity capability built in. Uh this allows uh operators to track energy consumption uh and battery health across fleets. And you this is going to become crit critical as fleets grow uh beyond what can be managed manually. Having visibility into degradation trends uh before they cause downtime is the kind of predictive maintenance capability that changes how fleets will run. And then there's uh fleet level uh power management as fleet scale aggregate load becomes a constraint. Um so we then enter the realm of smart charging uh managing the timing and the uh charge rates to avoid demand peaks uh will become increasingly necessary. Uh the charges I think that are selected today should be capable of participating in these coordinated systems. uh because the question stops being you know is my charger working and it becomes one of is the system working for my operations and I don't think electrification uh fails because of hardware. I think it fails when infrastructure ignores how work is actually being done. — That's a good point. How would you describe where we're at right now with um I mean it's it from my perspective from observing the industry it really seems like electrification is just gathering so much steam but there's this you know the charging question is ubiquitous but how would you describe where we're at like how much more runway do we have to get where it's going to be full acceptance or um are there still some lagards out there? How would you describe that? — Uh I think that you know we can draw parallels to the um material handling industry. I think with the electrification we've seen within that sector. I mean electric forklift's been around for 100 years. Um batteries lead acid batteries have been around for longer. Uh so I think that uh what we're seeing in that industry was very much driven by uh regulatory. So, you know, operating forklifts in closed uh environments and indoors. Uh so, you couldn't have internal combustion. So, you move very quickly to electric. I think that was a driver there. I

### [20:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4WZskFE958&t=1200s) Segment 5 (20:00 - 25:00)

think that from a financial perspective, uh from an operational perspective, electric has proven that it, you know, there are cost benefits. Now, um we're particularly seeing that from a uh on highway perspective. uh and the increased um appetite uh consumption of electric vehicles on highway but offhighway I think has been uh made more complicated because we are seeing this clash of both onh highway park power architecture and offhighway power architecture. I think the onh highway uh sector is very well defined from a standards perspective from a uh connectors perspective. Uh the charging infrastructure is very well baked. Off highway is has been made more complicated by you know this um mixture of taking power trains from you know electric forklifts and electrifying vehicles uh tugs um and then you have pushbacks which are sort of moving more into that high voltage uh architecture. So we're seeing two very different sort of realms. uh I wouldn't say conflicting but I think that there's more definition required uh more standardization required each have their own position their own right I think that low voltage is catching up from a standardization perspective we're seeing that with some of the new standards lcom being one which is uh standardizing you know connectors and protocols but I think that the infrastructure will ultimately be one of the major limitations in uh this as we move through this transition. I think the infrastructure who owns the charging infrastructure is in a is a at a point of transition uh moving originally from sort of airlines and OEMs and ground handlers. I think that airport companies uh facilities are probably better positioned to own the infrastructure. If we look at uh some of sort of relative sectors uh but that that's going to need investment as well because the infrastructure uh and again we see this in material handling you know to electrify a warehouse today uh retrofit electrification is extremely complicated. Transformers need upgrading automation and electrification does introduce complexity. If you had to uh offer advice to any, you know, airport planners or ground handling firms on how to kind of embrace updating their infrastructure or getting into this, what would be some things you would adise? I guess my advice would really be uh encouraging engagement by airports uh or their intermediaries uh directly with charger manufacturers or and their authorized representatives. I think the bigger theme is that the charges shouldn't be an afterthought. It's part of the infrastructure and when facility owners and users treat it that way from the start, I think that everything downstream becomes uh easier. Uh I think that there's been a risk that we're seeing charges that have been sized uh to theoretical peak power instead of real duty cycles. And that leads to, you know, problems. that can lead to idle charges or cues during peak periods or charges being placed where layouts may have looked good on paper rather than where they actually um where work actually happens. So I think that you know there and there's high cost in correcting some of these mistakes later. It's moving charges, upgrading wiring, adding protection, rerunning conduit. Uh it's disruptive and it's expensive. So I would really encourage uh that early engagement uh yeah as early in the process as possible. — How about looking into the future? What might be coming down coming soon for this technology? Is there anything that you can preview? — Uh yeah, I think that um for us, you know, we we're we've seen some trends uh early. We've, you know, I mentioned sort of standardization, this need for standardization. Uh I think that there's particular uh appetite and need for that right now. So Lycom uh Inel uh saw that very early on and initiated a universal communications protocol uh which um and

### [25:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4WZskFE958&t=1500s) Segment 6 (25:00 - 27:00)

specifically to support mixed fleets and open ecosystems and that's um being uh industry ratified. So that's something that the industry would use. So I think standardization is something that has to be implemented from a technology perspective. you know there's this constraint of the grid and at many airports that will be the limiting factor. It what it'll be more limiting than the charger technology. Uh so we are developing sort of the next generation. Um we're developing sort of distributed charging architectures that combine grid power with storage. And that idea is simple. It lets operators work within their existing electrical limits. uh it shifts loads off peak. Uh it smooths demand, delivers the power profile that vehicles actually need without relying on these large centralized upgrades. And because these systems are distributed, they can sit where uh operations actually happen. They produce resilience and maintain uh charging capability through grid interruption. And so I think that's really exciting and I wish I could talk more about it but I wouldn't be allowed. Uh but I think that those sorts of uh sort of new thinking and applying that sort of technology to these challenges and problems is a far um more appealing uh and it's more rapid. Um the reality is that you know transformer upgrades and grid upgrades are expensive and uh will take years. So I think that there's some exciting solutions coming. — Well I hope you'll keep us posted about that. I thank you for the information that you've given us today Damian and uh I hope we'll have you back sometime for an update. Thank you. — Excellent. Right. Thanks Jenny. — Thanks for tuning in to the Aviation Pros podcast. Stay ahead in airport operations and leadership by subscribing to our airport business daily newsletter, your go-to source for the latest industry insights. And don't forget to explore even more at aviationpros. com, the home of exclusive content for aviation professionals like you. I'm Joe Petri. We'll catch you next time. —

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*Источник: https://ekstraktznaniy.ru/video/52749*