As Ethiopian Airlines, Qatar Airways and other Boeing 787 customers are returning their Dreamliners to service with battery system modification kits, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is still looking for the cause of the January 7 APU battery fire aboard a Japan Airlines 787 parked at Boston Logan International Airport. The situation remains paradoxical–the FAA has certified the kit, thanks to the safety barriers Boeing (Chalet A324) has added, but the NTSB is still investigating. At stake is efficient use of lithium-ion batteries, a technology that brings performance and weight improvements in an era when electric systems are replacing hydraulic and pneumatic ones.
So what are the benefits of lithium-ion for batteries? “These batteries have lower weight and higher voltage, 3 to 4 volts, versus 1 to 2 volts for others,” Stanley Whittingham, a professor at Binghamton University in New York, told AIN. Whittingham was speaking at a forum the NTSB organized in April, about lithium-ion batteries in transportation. He pointed out the technology is more proven than one might think. For example, BAE Systems buses have accumulated 25 million miles in the U.S. using 11 kWh Li-ion batteries.
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