AIRWORTHY BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE FOR DECARBONIZING AVIATION

Aircraft electrification is key in tackling the challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from aviation enabling energy-efficient electric drive trains and distributed electric propulsion concepts. The advancement of battery technology will play a crucial role in accelerating this transition and supporting the electrification. Li-ion batteries will mature in the upcoming years reaching 500+ Wh/kg at the cell level and will stay the predominant technology for the next generation aircraft with entry into service by 2035. Ultra-efficient aircraft integration requires reliable numerical tools for performance, ageing and safety modelling taking into account aeronautic certification requirements that are currently evolving.
The AIT HEAT research team pursues an integrated model-based cell-to-system approach, leveraging the results of in-house battery development and testing. Various aeronautic end-user applications from general aviation to large passenger aircraft are steering the development of next-generation battery cells and the design of airworthy energy storage systems in the European research projects HighSpin, HELENA, IMOTHEP, ORCHESTRA and HECATE. In addition, AIT is developing aeronautic structural batteries (SBs) as multifunctional lightweight alternative to conventional batteries in SOLIFLY, MATISSE and USAF-SB.
To facilitate the discovery and rapid development of novel materials for next generation batteries, AIT contributes to the European materials acceleration platform (FULL-MAP).
This poster presents AIT's approach to the electrification of aircraft supporting the decarbonisation of aviation.