Institution news
Q: Could you briefly explain your role, involvement and experience with regards to this conference?
Maite Carreras Orobengoa (MCO): I am part of the Electrical Engineering department within Airbus Defence & Space, which is the Battery Technology Centre of Competences of Airbus Group.
Ni-Cd has been the driven battery technology for decades, but lithium has replaced it on many different applications, from electric vehicles to satellites (Airbus was the pioneer in 2003, launching the first satellite with Li-Ion batteries). Thanks to the space heritage, Airbus Defence & Space has more than 40 years of experience on battery design and management.
I have worked as a power system engineer for many earth observation programmes, sizing the power system of satellites, from solar arrays to batteries.
I was the responsible of the electrical battery design of the OneWeb constellation batteries.
Over the past year I have worked in the UK as a power system engineer for the Zephyr HAPS program, which needs cutting-edge energy density batteries to fly.
I am now in charge of developing new Li-Ion certified battery solutions for the Airbus electrification ambitions.
Q: What are the main engineering challenges currently facing the industry and what are the most common issues you hear from colleagues?
MCO: There are obvious benefits of reduced CO2 emissions and noise levels, but electrification also allows us to re-evaluate the entire design of an air vehicle. In terms of vehicles, Airbus is studying a range of options. One area is small, short-range Vertical Take-Off & Landing (VTOL) urban air mobility demonstrators – namely Vahana and CityAirbus – for inner-city flights. These are fully electric aircraft for one to four passengers. In the longer term, Airbus believes that hybrid propulsion is likely to be available for larger commercial aircraft before going fully electric, as the power-to-weight ratios for battery technology are still a long way away from what is required.
Having said that, the main challenges for the aviation electrification objectives is to improve the power/energy-to-weight ratios of the energy storage systems and still guarantee the same level of safety of the current propulsion systems.
Q: What key topics are you excited to speak about?
MCO: Electric propulsion has the potential to revolutionise flight. From cleaner, quieter travel to completely new types of vehicles and operations, the benefits could be huge.
With air traffic projected to double every 15 to 20 years, Airbus believes that electric and hybrid-electric propulsion can offer a viable solution to ensure that our industry grows sustainably while minimising our environmental impact. Airbus is committed to the international Aviation Industry ATAG goals aiming at improving fuel efficiency by an average of 1.5% per year from 2009 to 2020, stabilising emissions from 2020 with carbon-neutral growth and reducing net emissions from aviation by 50% by 2050. These targets cannot be met with today’s technologies. This is why Airbus is investing in and focusing its research efforts – among others – on developing electric and hybrid-electric propulsion technologies.
Q: Who else are you most interested in hearing from on the programme, and why?
MCO: All the EV industry speakers. Battery development has seen an amazing change pushed by EV industry in the last decade. The aerospace industry is taking the advantage of these enhanced performances at lower costs thanks to higher production rates. It will be very interesting to hear from them which are the future ambitions for EV industry to see if there are communalities with the aviation electrification ambitions.
Q: What developments are you most interested in for the future and why?
MCO: I am really excited to see the new era of Urban Air Mobility come true. I am also engaged on the CO2 emission reduction; this is why I would also like to see in the short-term hybrid-electric or full electric propulsion system aircrafts.
International EV Batteries 2019 will be taking place on 5-6 November at the Kia Oval in London. Join this conference to:
- Hear over 16 hours of content on electric vehicle battery development from pioneering users of battery technology including Jaguar Land Rover, Renault, Airbus, Aston Martin and Ford Motor Company
- Network with battery research, design and systems engineers as well as battery management systems experts
- Invest in cost-effective battery technology by gaining insight into the latest cell, module and pack designs
- Gain insight into the latest technologies in thermal management to mitigate the risk of thermal runaway
- Receive an update on the status of battery manufacturing in the UK and the supply chain across the world
To book your place, please visit www.imeche.org/evbatteries.