The Electric: A Search For a Powerful New Battery To Help Electric Planes Fly

Save the date: For three centuries, Prussian blue has been the hue behind some of the world's most famous paintings, including Gainsborough's The Blue Boy and Picasso's Blue Period works. Now, it's the material in one of the most inventive new batteries. For the next Live Chat With The Electric, I'm excited to welcome Colin Wessells, CEO of Natron Energy, to discuss Prussian blue, including his own battery. Thursday July 21 at noon ET. Register here and let me know if you'd like to invite a guest: [email protected]. 

For five years, U.S. researchers backed by tens of millions of dollars in federal funding have been working to create a battery cell with energy density of 500 Watt-hours per kilogram, almost twice the performance of today’s best commercial electric vehicle cells and enough to power ordinary EVs for 500 or so miles on a charge. The researchers have reached around 350 Wh/kg and plan to finish work on the 500 Wh/kg EV superbattery by 2026.

But now Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy, the U.S. Department of Energy’s commercial petri dish, is considering a new program that would double the stretch goal to a specific energy density of 1,000 Wh/kg. Halle Cheeseman, an ARPA-E program director, says the rationale for the battery is to electrify 100-passenger commercial jets traveling regional routes of up to 700 miles. Such a battery—as long as its cost was reasonable—could shake up the airline industry, enabling electrification of most regional routes around the world and possibly limiting combustion to long-haul routes.