Lithium-ion batteries take their seat

Cessna introduced a Li-ion main battery on its Citation CJ4 that minimized electrical and avionics architecture changes and enabled continued compatibility with existing Ni-Cd and LA battery options.

The battery is commonly considered to have the highest weight density of all components in an aircraft. Cessna engineers suggest that changing the battery from a conventional nickel cadmium (Ni-Cd) or lead acid (LA) chemistry to a higher-energy-density lithium-ion (Li-ion) chemistry could result in weight savings as high as 40%.

Weight reduction of this single component will yield improvements in an aircraft's payload, range, and center-of-gravity characteristics. The challenge in realizing these benefits lies in the successful design and certification of the battery into the aircraft's system architecture.