Even at the largest automobile exhibition currently taking place in Shanghai, it is clear that local automakers are targeting humanoid robots and flying machines as the next market segments to be developed. At the same time, flying machines have special requirements for traction batteries.
Image source: EHang
As reported by Nikkei Asian Review, citing the Chinese publication Caixin, the electric aircraft market in China alone will reach $15.4 billion by 2030, so battery manufacturers are already thinking about producing specialized products. Electric aviation requires batteries with less weight, higher charge storage density, and higher energy output.
According to Sinolink Securities, an electric aircraft that flies eight times a day will need to replace its traction batteries at least 14 times over a 20-year service life, if their estimated service life is 1,000 cycles. One of the requirements for traction batteries for electric aircraft is a high discharge rate under load. In fact, they must be able to fully discharge two to three times per hour, while batteries for electric cars are usually designed for a single discharge per hour. High intensity of power transmission to traction motors is needed for vertical takeoff and landing, since this is an energy-consuming stage of the flight.
At the current level of technology, such properties affect the price of batteries. Aircraft batteries are becoming ten times more expensive than electric vehicle batteries. For example, a 200 kWh battery for an electric aircraft can cost more than $82,000 on its own.
The topic of creating batteries for electric aviation is now of interest not only to major players in the electric vehicle segment such as CATL, CALB, Eve Energy, Gotion Hi-Tech and Farasis Energy, but also to various startups. The giants can spend too many resources on the electric vehicle segment, so young companies in the aviation sector have a chance to make a name for themselves.
For example, Shenzhen Inx Technology managed to take part in a test flight of the EHang prototype equipped with a solid-state traction battery last year. It increased the flight duration by 60% to almost 50 minutes. The only significant drawback of the developed solid-state battery is the lower charging speed, which may become a problem during regular use of aircraft.