The #1 battery maker in the world, CATL, has developed a battery for use in electric aircraft — in particular, for passenger eVTOL aircraft (electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft). The battery has now passed an important safety test. The company intentionally triggered two adjacent cells and that didn’t lead to any thermal runaway. Cells were triggered in the middle and the corners of the packs with no thermal propagation. “The production, inspection and testing of the cells and the battery system were all witnessed by designated representatives of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), laying the groundwork for eVTOL aircraft to meet civil aviation safety standards, the company said,” CnEVPost shares. “It is the world’s first aviation battery system using prismatic cells with an energy density as high as 350 Wh/kg to pass such a test, CATL said in a statement on Sunday.” Electric VTOL aircraft have been hyped and getting developed for more than a decade. It’s sort of funny and surprising that CATL is just now getting to this stage with its batteries. However, perhaps that is for some important and obvious reasons. It’s quite clear that eVTOL aircraft, and electric aircraft in general, haven’t been ready for the big time up to now. But battery costs keep coming down, battery energy density keeps rising, and we’re getting to the point where electric aircraft make more and more sense. If CATL is developing batteries now for eVTOL, perhaps it sees a significant market opening up there. And, indeed, CATL says that its eVTOL batteries are ready for mass production. They will first be used by Autoflight. We’ll have to see what comes of all this, but with CATL making such a move and putting significant effort into this, and also backing Autoflight, my ears are perking up and my eyes are zooming in. Stay tuned.
