Major News for Zero-Emissions Aviation
- Editor OGN Daily
- Apr 22, 2023
- 1 min read
Updated: May 7, 2023
Chinese company CATL is to commence mass production of a super "condensed battery" it says can squeeze in more than twice as much energy as a Tesla Model Y battery, by weight - while being safe enough to fly with.
Lithium batteries started an avalanche of innovation when they became widely available, largely because they could hold significantly more energy by weight than other contemporary chemistries. Touchscreen smartphones, drones, all-day laptops, long-range electric cars and the first generation of battery-powered aircraft were some of the results.
But more energy storage is always better - you can either make things last longer, or weigh less - and manufacturers around the world have been racing to raise the bar with next-gen battery tech. One key metric in the aviation world is specific energy - the amount of energy stored per kilogram of battery, and CATL says it has achieved a new benchmark.
The lithium-based condensed battery was launched last week at the Auto Shanghai expo, with CATL claiming blockbuster energy density figures "up to 500 Wh/kg."
The company says it's already partnering with electric aircraft companies, looking to satisfy aviation-grade safety and quality standards. Clearly this will be of extreme interest to anyone developing an eVTOL aircraft, and electric fixed-wing passenger aircraft will also get an impressive range boost out of this tech.