Battery Technologies for Use in Aviation: Classification, Temporal Evolution and Future Prospects

Sustainability is one of the main concerns of the aviation industry nowadays, as it strives to reduce emissions and noise, both from flight operations and in the airport environment. Batteries are a promising technology for meeting these challenges. From a sustainable aviation perspective, they can be used as the main power source for all-electric aircraft, but also to support other technologies in hybrid-electric aircraft. To scale up this technology, it is of great interest to classify and evaluate the different battery options, not only currently available, but also with a view to future developments. This work presents the main keywords related to the use of batteries in aviation. It then explains the classification of batteries developed in the framework of the Environmentally Friendly Aviation for All Classes of Aircraft (EFACA) project, together with the main results of an analysis of each battery type in terms of its current status and its potential for future development.