GXY (ASX) Lithium is in a strong bull market.

Lithium ion batteries to fly again on Airbus A350-900

1 May, 2016

BY: Stephen Trimble

Hamburg

Lithium ion batteries will be installed on A350-900 aircraft delivered to customers by the end of the year after passing a series of extended safety reviews precipitated by battery fires that grounded the Boeing 787-8 three years ago.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has approved the lithium-ion battery and installation on the A350-900, allowing the Saft-made systems to enter the production flow for aircraft destined for European customers, Airbus executive vice-president of engineering Charles Champion told Flightglobal in a 31 May interview.
Retrofits for aircraft already delivered could be offered “if it makes sense”, Champion says.
Airbus is still waiting for the FAA to certificate the lithium-ion batteries for the A350-900, he adds.
Airbus originally designed the A350-900 using rechargeable lithium ion batteries to serve as a back-up power source for the avionics system and to start the auxiliary power unit (APU).

But Airbus was forced to sideline that plan due to the 787-8’s battery troubles. In January 2013, fires erupted on two 787-8s within nine days of each other after lithium-ion batteries overheated on both aircraft. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered the fleet grounded for almost four months while Boeing redesigned the installation to prevent the cells within the batteries from causing damage to the aircraft if they overheat and vent.
The 787 fleet returned to service in three years ago. One more cell venting event was reported in January 2014, but the redesigned installation prevented the overheating battery from damaging the aircraft. A separate battery fire on an Ethiopian Airlines 787-8 at London-Heathrow airport in July 2013 involved a non-rechargeable lithium battery for the emergency locator-transmitter beacon, but that incident was caused by a manufacturing error.
Airbus believed it had come up with a more conservative design for the A350-900 battery system, but replaced it on aircraft delivered so far with a nickel-cadmium battery, representing a previous and well-understood generation of aircraft batteries.
Lithium ion chemistries can store more energy in a lighter package than nickel-cadmium, but can be more volatile. The 787-8 uses a GS Yuasa-designed system that stores 72Ah of energy in eight 3.7V cells. Whereas the Saft batteries on the A350-900 store about 45Ah of energy between 14 3.6V cells. Additionally, Airbus divides the power requirement between four lithium ion batteries, compared to two larger batteries used by Boeing. Finally, Saft serves as both the maker for the battery and the battery controller, while Boeing divided these functions between GS Yuasa and Securaplane

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/a...teries-to-fly-again-on-airbus-a350-90-425894/