Hat-tip to Reuters Science for drawing attention to a paper just released by a team at the MIT :
New fuel cell could enable electric aviation
Date:
May 27, 2025
Source:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Summary:
Engineers developed a fuel cell that offers more than three times as much energy per pound compared to lithium-ion batteries. Powered by a reaction between sodium metal and air, the device could be lightweight enough to enable the electrification of airplanes, trucks, or ships.
Link to the synopsis :
https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0527124115.htm
The full text in the journal Joule is not paywalled, and contains a very interesting technoeconomic comparison of the proposed technology with JET A-1, synthetic aviation fuel and other ‘green’ fuels. However, it is anticipated that aviation use would be confined to short-to-medium applications because the energy/weight still falls short of that of conventional fuel.
One expects that a long, hard road must lie ahead before the technology is available in practical form for aviation use, especially with so reactive a metal which has to be kept hot to do its stuff.
Still, those wannabe ‘flying taxi’ manufacturers using lithium-based batteries may presently want to do some rethinking ..... and I’ll not be rushing to invest in lithium stocks.