Electric Plane Battery Breakthrough

Researchers achieve energy density with ground-breaking battery design for long-distance electric planes.

14:03 02 February 2022

Researchers from the Japanese National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) have successfully developed a next-generation battery design with an energy density of over 500Wh/kg, paving the way for long-distance electric planes. 

 

Energy density has been the biggest obstacle towards the advancement of electric planes, with 500Wh/kg viewed as an important benchmark for achieving both long-haul and high capacity flights. The lithium-air battery can be charged and discharged at normal operating temperatures and “shows the highest energy densities and best life cycle performance ever achieved”. 

 

A press release from NIMS about the battery reads: “Lithium-air batteries have the potential to be the ultimate rechargeable batteries: they are lightweight and high capacity, with theoretical energy densities several times that of currently available lithium ion batteries,” 

 

Currently, the team is working on implementing other materials into the battery as they hope to further increase the battery's cycle life.