What does NASA's new electric battery mean for aviation insurance?
Emerging technologies will no doubt be expensive in their first iterations, ultimately pushing up claim costs.
In line with global efforts to reduce our carbon footprint, developments in electric air flight are being closely watched. NASA’s latest announcement would appear to bring us one step closer to a new era for electric aviation tech, offering both challenges and opportunities for aviation insurers.
Last month NASA reported significant progress with developing the Solid-state Architecture Batteries for Enhanced Rechargeability and Safety (SABERS), an innovative battery pack that is lighter, safer and performs better than batteries commonly used in vehicles today.
As part of NASA’s commitment to sustainable aviation, this project seeks to improve battery technology by investigating the use of solid-state batteries, which can hold more energy and perform better in stressful environments than standard lithium-ion batteries and, crucially, do so at a usable weight.
New developments
Finding suitable battery power, at a usable weight, is one of the key hurdles for electronic flights to take off. At present, there has been increasing use of electric power in aviation, the focus has been on smaller and unmanned aircraft or, within commercial aviation, hybrid approaches.
For aviation, batteries must be able to store a huge amount of energy and be able to discharge enough energy at a rate sufficient to power an aircraft, while also remaining lightweight.
According to NASA’s announcement, “SABERS has experimented with innovative new materials yet to be used in batteries, which have produced significant progress in power discharge.”
During the past year, NASA’s team has increased the battery’s discharge rate by a factor of 10 and then by another factor of five.
Other developments
NASA is not the only organization to be innovating in this area and there has been much discussion about the newly emerging sector of urban air mobility (UAM), which involves low-altitude, ultra-short distance vertical take-off and landing flights in urban areas. It’s expected that, at least in the short term, this is where we will see the biggest shift towards electric power. This multibillion-dollar industry is growing fast and is well suited to the capabilities of current battery technologies on offer.
More broadly, there continue to be developments in light aircraft. In September 2022, a prototype all-electric aircraft — named Alice and produced by Eviation — took its maiden flight from Washington state’s Grant Country International Airport. The aircraft (still awaiting FAA certification) can reportedly fly 400km per battery charge and logistics specialist DHL Express has reportedly ordered a fleet of 12 of these aircraft to be delivered in 2024.
Impact on aviation insurance claims
Emerging technologies will no doubt be expensive in their first iterations, ultimately pushing up claim costs for insurers.
For example, as technology evolves and parts become more complex, the cost of repairs as well as replacement will likely increase. As we saw with the industry’s adoption of composite materials in the last new generation of aircraft, the method of repair was completely changed. These materials were, initially at least, unknown and complex to third-party repair organizations — often with closely guarded intellectual property. We saw manufacturers developing something of a monopoly over new material repairs, and notable impacts on the spares market — all of which ultimately impacted costs.
Electric GA aircraft would still need to have shockload inspections for propeller strikes and further reliance on battery systems could lead to more thermal runaway events with resulting damage to the aircraft.
Another key challenge in terms of potential claims could be that of theft and off-aircraft damage to battery systems. The UAM model is being, in part, built on the idea that a depleted battery can be removed from the aircraft by means of a quick disconnect system and a freshly charged battery slotted into place to enable quick turnarounds. This practice, although entirely reasonable from an operational point of view, could lead to increased handling damages, multiple connection cycles and theft occurrences of these very expensive parts.
Andrew Southall is a senior aviation surveyor with McLarens Aviation.
Opinions expressed here are the author’s own.
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