When we opened our Google this morning, there was news of a condensed matter semi solid state battery on the front page. We’ve heard snippets of this before, but this time Chinese battery maker CATL seems to have made progress. The Shanghai Auto Show is alive about news of this today. In time-honored fashion we investigate further, and report back here.
Condensed Matter Semi Solid State for Electric Aircraft
Clean Technica sees a great future for electric transport using this technology. The leap forward for batteries uses a condensed electrolyte, and new anode and separator materials, according to Reuters News Agency.
The channel that’s often first with the news believes ‘it could supply enough energy to power electric passenger aircraft for civil aviation use’. From what we’ve heard the condensed matter semi-solid state battery will have energy density of 500 watt-hours per kilogram.
Now this is considerably more than lithium-ion’s current 300 watt-hours best. Clean Technica hopes this will finally tip the energy-weight-density scale in favor of aircraft. Could this mean that the dream of viable electric flight will finally materialize? What a day that would be!
New CATL Battery Will Be Suitable for Aviation Use
Wu Kai is chief scientist for CATL. He told media at Shanghai Auto Show his company is working with ‘other players in the field to ensure adequate safety and quality’. Therefore, it seems likely the batteries will store sufficient energy to offset their weight in airplanes.
However, they will still have to face rigorous testing in the aviation industry, before they could go anywhere near commercial. CnEvPost believes CATL has constructed ‘a micron-scale adaptive mesh structure’. If this were successful, then it could regulate other chemical changes in high-density chemistries too.
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