Northvolt, a Swedish battery manufacturer, has announced a new programme centred on thin, energy-dense metal lithium cells and modules to assist electric aviation. Development of the electrical plane battery is already in progress thanks to Northvolt subsidiary Cuberg, which may reveal some accomplishments.
Two former Tesla executives who had previously worked for Panasonic at the American automaker’s first Gigafactory in Nevada created Northvolt. The company’s primary objective was to introduce the “gigafactory” concept to Scandinavia.
Northvolt’s first gigafactory started producing cells in late 2021, and by the end of the year it was announced that a second factory would be built in Sweden by 2025. A third gigafactory was confirmed for Germany by March 2022.
Northvolt has provided R&D money to create distinctive battery technologies, such as those employing 100% recycled nickel, manganese, and cobalt, in addition to increasing battery cell and module research across Europe. The business even announced a cooperative initiative to create environmentally friendly wood-based batteries using the lignin polymer, which is sourced from plants.
Northvolt turns to a subsidiary for some ultra-energy-dense cells that might one day operate electric planes for its most recent battery development.
Lithium metal batteries provide the framework for electric aircraft
Northvolt has announced details of its own programme less than a week after industry pioneer CATL revealed information about a new condensed battery that one day might power electric planes.
Following verified performance data released last summer, Northvolt subsidiary Cuberg, that’s in charge of the development process, claims to be closer than ever to producing a fully consolidated lithium metal battery system.
Cuberg’s 20 Ah commercial-format lithium metal pouch cell, that has already started shipping to customers all over the world, served as the starting point for the development of scalable electric plane battery cells.
Cuberg then combined these pouch cells with an aviation-specific battery package that offers 280 Wh/kg of specific energy and 320 Wh/L of energy density. In contrast, the condensed cells from CATL promise an energy density equal to 500 Wh/kg.
Cuberg has already finished a runway verification test utilising the lithium metal module platform and attained passive propagation, according to Northvolt. The subsidiary aims to use its energy-dense tech to get beyond the weight limitations of the current battery technology that prevent electric aviation operations from expanding to their full potential. Richard Wang, CEO of Cuberg, explained:
The aviation sector is looking for cleaner sources of power and propulsion, but the complexity and infancy of lithium-ion battery systems with aviation certification prevent aircraft makers from moving further. With the help of this new programme, we will develop certifiable battery systems that will significantly improve aircraft performance and provide a reliable end-to-end service backed by one of the leading battery manufacturers in the world.
The battery technology developed by Cuberg is already interoperable with common manufacturing procedures, facilitating easier scaling and more seamless integration. Northvolt claims that in order to provide energy solutions for electric planes, it plans to combine its own battery production experience with Cuberg’s lithium metal cell technology.
Follow EAutoArena On Telegram, Twitter, Google News & Youtube