An Experimental- and Simulation-Based Performance Evaluation of a Commercial High-Energy Cell - the Path Towards Electric Aviation?

To meet the climate targets specified in the Paris Agreement 2015, the decarbonization of mobility is essential and is a major challenge of today's society. The transition of the automotive industry to battery-powered electro-mobility is already in progress and is economically feasible. To enable sustainable air transport, several types of energy carriers are being researched and are under development by companies, including batteries, hydrogen and e-fuels. This paper investigates experimentally and with the help of a simulation-based case study if current high-energy lithium-ion cells meet the requirements to electrify inter-city flights. For this purpose, the Samsung 50 S INR21700 was selected and its performance was investigated under application-oriented operating conditions. In addition to a detailed characterization of fresh cells, lifetime tests were carried out to analyze the degradation behavior also under applicationrelated loads. Finally, the maximum range over the entire service life was predicted based on a battery model, under the premise of ensuring a safe landing under the legal regulations of remaining residual energy and power at all times.