In the latest Fix the Planet newsletter, adamvaughan_uk explains why planes need a battery breakthrough
). “My two cents is we’ll see lithium-ion chipping into bits of the aerospace sector reasonably soon,” he says.
But progress is unlikely to stop there. Using new chemistry and materials could unlock batteries for medium-sized planes capable of carrying tens of passengers a few hundred kilometres – a flight from London to another north-western European capital, for example. Key to that breakthrough will be the use of a new generation of batteries that are rechargeable and lightweight.
. But Viswanathan believes it is possible to reach around 600Wh/kg in the next 10 years, given a targeted and substantial investment in batteries for aviation. Lithium-metal is one material he thinks holds promise. But he says a good approach for finding new lightweight batteries will be to look at so-called primary batteries – single-use ones – and try to develop a version that is rechargeable. Lithium-carbon-monofluoride batteries are one possible candidate.
. The third is using machine learning to discover new materials, which he likens to the way pharmaceutical firms are using it to develop new drugs and vaccines. “I think batteries are having a similar inflexion point,” says Viswanathan. In the UK, Shearing is working with groups such as the UK government-funded Faraday Institution to develop better batteries. He’s hopeful we will see electrification in some parts of the aerospace sector in the next five to 10 years , and thinks those successful demonstrations should spur efforts on larger aircraft. At each different scale of plane, different battery chemistries will reach a ceiling of what they can deliver, before a new one is needed.
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