Why the aviation industry remains one of the hardest to electrify? Is Lithium-ion the best battery technology for the job? What are the most viable alternatives?

We will try to answer these questions with one of the leading experts in the field of battery science.

Venkat Viswanathan is an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University, where he leads a research lab focusing on aviation and transportation applications of battery technology.

Venkat, who is also an advisor to several green energy firms, has recently co-authored two papers outlining the learnings of his research in this field and explaining why incremental improvement of Li-Ion batteries may not be enough for a more wide-ranging electrification of the aviation industry.

A new paradigm is needed in battery chemistry, one based on new materials and underpinned by novel research and production techniques, involving robotics and machine learning. Lithium-metal batteries and even more advanced combinations that use non-metallic elements may hold the key to the sort of energy density increases that will make the electrification of broader segments of the aviation industry feasible.

In addition to his work at the very edge of this technological frontier, Venkat is also an excellent communicator, able to explain complex scientific concepts in a straightforward and understandable way to broad non-scientific audiences.

It is because of all this that I invite you to check today’s episode out to get a grasp of the current state of battery science and its potential applications in the aviation industry!