How Green and Sustainable Is the Aviation of the Future?

The idea sounded compelling: fit an electric motor into an aircraft’s landing gear so it could move on the ground without relying on its main engines. For Sven Taubert, the E-Taxi project became one of the most complex cases of his career. Extra weight, power requirements and the wider operating case all had to be considered. In his account, the expected economic and environmental benefits did not hold up.

What happened after the project stopped is just as revealing. The team spent roughly six months documenting what it had learned. In this English-language episode of Innovation Rockstars, Taubert joins Dr. Christian Mühlroth to discuss sustainable aviation and his work leading Corporate Foresight and Market Intelligence at Lufthansa Technik. The conversation shows why good technology decisions depend on understanding a whole system, sharing expertise and preserving the reasoning behind choices that may need to be revisited.

Evaluate the benefit across the system

Taubert approaches sustainability with enthusiasm for new possibilities and caution about simple answers. In the interview, he discusses several possible routes for aviation, including improvements to existing technology and different forms of propulsion or fuel.

His broader point is that an attractive technology has to fit the demands of its application. Energy, weight, operating conditions and the wider infrastructure all affect the case. A benefit in one part of the system may create a burden elsewhere.

Urban air mobility illustrates the same concern. Taubert questions whether large-scale airborne transport would offer the environmental advantages sometimes suggested. He distinguishes that ambition from more specific, time-sensitive uses, such as medical transport.

These are his assessments from the conversation, rather than a current verdict on individual technologies or companies. The useful discipline is to ask what problem a proposed system solves and what alternatives can address it before equating technical feasibility with an overall improvement.

Understand why the promising idea did not work

The E-Taxi example makes that discipline concrete. The concept aimed to reduce the cost and impact of aircraft ground movement. But installing electric motors brought additional weight and equipment, while the motors still required a power source.

Taubert describes assessing the implications for the aircraft as a whole. The question was not simply whether the motor could perform the task. The team needed to establish whether the complete arrangement justified its consequences.

When the project did not meet that test, it left substantial technical and process knowledge behind. Spending more time on documentation after termination was unusual, but Taubert found it worthwhile.

Similar proposals continued to appear. The record allowed colleagues to start from what had already been investigated instead of reconstructing the same evaluation from scratch. It also helped the discussion move beyond a dismissive memory that someone had tried the idea before.

Preserve the conditions behind a decision

A stopped project should not become a permanent prohibition on an idea. Taubert points out that the circumstances surrounding it can change. New technology or different requirements may make a previously unattractive approach worth reconsidering.

“Preservation of information is a crucial element, especially in foresight”

That includes understanding why a conclusion was reached. If the people who led an earlier project have left and only its reputation remains, the organisation loses the ability to assess what would need to be different next time.

For R&D leaders, the E-Taxi story offers a practical standard for closing work. Capture the assumptions, constraints and findings that another team would need to revisit the question intelligently. Learning becomes more useful when colleagues can inspect it and relate it to new evidence.

Combine consistent outputs with flexible methods

Taubert describes his function as an internal think tank connecting innovation and strategy. The team brings together technical, industry, business and economic perspectives rather than relying on one professional background.

He favours clear expectations for outputs while allowing methods to vary with the question. A detailed scenario exercise may be appropriate for a substantial project. A request needing an answer within a week or two calls for a lighter approach.

The purpose remains to give decision-makers several considered options. Taubert describes using ITONICS for documentation and communication, alongside professional networks and other information sources.

He also looks beyond aviation. Events such as the Consumer Electronics Show provide opportunities to discuss challenges and technologies with people from other industries. The exchange matters as much as the products on display. It gives the team another way to test its assumptions and understand where developments might lead.

Make the investment case a shared discussion

Early technology choices rarely come with a complete business case. Taubert describes combining experience, outside input and available evidence, then checking the opportunity against company strategy. As information changes, the assessment needs to be revisited.

That work requires close contact with innovation teams embedded in the product divisions. They understand applications and constraints that a central foresight team cannot know in equal detail. Bringing their views into the discussion early helps management assess the options.

“I can't call myself an expert in every field.”

The same openness matters when preparing for a more varied future aircraft portfolio. New technologies could change what maintenance and service providers need to support. Taubert’s emphasis is on thinking through those implications early enough to adapt.

Looking back at an innovation-team anniversary, he found that his strongest sense of achievement came from the processes, cooperation and shared work the team had built. The E-Taxi lesson fits that perspective. An innovation capability proves its value through the quality of its decisions and the knowledge it preserves, including when a promising project should stop.