A new super battery should even make flying possible – that’s what science says

The world’s largest manufacturer of batteries for electric cars, CATL, presented a new battery at the Shanghai Auto Show that it says will also enable battery-powered commercial aviation. This is due to the enormous energy density of 500 Wh/kg.

CATL senior engineer Wu Kai said during the presentation that the “condensed battery” is a lithium-ion-based semi-solid energy carrier that can be mass-produced in “a short period of time”. The manufacturer is silent about the exact composition of the cathode and anode. “Innovative materials” would be used for this.

In current electric vehicles, batteries with a much lower energy density are used. As a rule, values ​​of less than 300 Wh/kg are achieved. Cobalt and nickel-free LFP batteries, which are installed in various versions of standard Teslas, for example, even come out at less than 200 Wh/kg. Therefore, the large energy reserves in the vehicles make them extremely heavy. In the long-range versions of the Tesla Models 3 and Y, the battery weighs about 530 kilograms, and in the Model S even 625 kilograms. With the new CATL battery technology, this weight could be halved, significantly increasing efficiency. A lighter vehicle also requires less drive energy.

However, it is not certain whether commercial aircraft can actually be operated with the new batteries. Jet fuel has an extremely high energy density of 12 kWh/kg. Because combustion engines are many times less efficient, much of this advantage disappears again – but batteries still need to increase their energy density.

According to a 2020 Carnegie Mellon University study, small planes with a capacity of 30 passengers require batteries with a density of 600 Wh/kg for a flight distance of 400 miles — that’s about 20 percent more than CATL’s new development. Medium-haul aircraft with 150 passengers would have to be equipped with energy sources with a density of 820 Wh/kg for 925 kilometers. For long-haul aircraft with 300 passengers and a flight distance of 1850 kilometers, that would even be 1.28 kWh/kg.

The new CATL battery may not usher in the era of commercially viable electric aircraft, but it is certainly another step in that direction. Experts think it will take about 30 years for battery-powered aviation to take off.