British lithium-sulphur battery developer Oxis Energy is collaborating with Airbus to test cells for use in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
The collaboration will be unveiled at Fraunhofer Institute’s lithium sulphur battery workshop in Dresden in November.
The first sales of lithium-sulphur batteries are likely to be for military and defence markets, for use in such applications as military drones, where the high energy densities and relative safety are more important than cycle life.
Oxis Energy’s CEO Huw Hampson-Jones told BEST it signed a contract with Airbus in July. “There are keen to evaluate the use of lithium sulphur for aviation purposes. We’ve shipped cells and there is a constant interaction between us.”
Hampson-Jones also said the firm would launch commercially available 5Ah/11kWh and 10Ah/22kWh lithium-sulphur cells/modules in 2015, made in Hong Kong by GP Batteries. The modules are aimed at the driverless EV and solar energy storage applications.
Welshman Hampson-Jones said the company has achieved 1,000 cycles at 80% depth of discharge. The firm’s target is to achieve 2,000 cycles by 2017.
