IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - 11

1
3
MILLION
Number of hours boeiNg
tested batteries iN flight

A complex system: Boeing's fuelefficient 787 Dreamliner involved design
input from many suppliers. The plane
went to customers two years late.

in january, regulators
in Japan and the United
States grounded the worldwide
fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners
after lithium-ion batteries caught
fire in two of them-one in the
air over Japan and the other on
the ground in Boston. As IEEE
Spectrum went to press, authorities were tracing the proximate
cause of the Boston fire to a shortcircuit in one of the batteries. The
ultimate cause remained unclear.
What is clear, though, is that
lithium-ion batteries in commercial airliners are probably here to
stay. Airliners are going to keep
electrifying previously mechanical systems like those used for
braking and de-icing, because doing so makes the aircraft much
lighter and more efficient, says
Cosmin Laslau, an electrochemistry expert and technology analyst for Lux Research.
A heavy reliance on electrical
systems, together with extensive
use of ultralight carbon composites, is what cuts the 787's fuel
consumption by 20 percent versus the competition's-its main
selling point. (The batteries
are mere backup to the six-
count 'em, six-generators that
supply the 787 with a whopping
1.5 megawatts, about five times
as much as in any comparable
airliner.) And lithium-ion batteries are likely to remain the technology of choice for new airliner

Boeing

Boeing's
Battery Blues
Despite fires in the 787's lithium-ion
batteries, planes will become more
dependent on electricity and batteries
SPECTRUM.IEEE.ORG

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NORTh AMERICAN

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MAR 2013

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11



http://SPECTRUM.IEEE.ORG

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum March, 2013

IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - Cover1
IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - Cover2
IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - 1
IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - 2
IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - 3
IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - 4
IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - 5
IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - 6
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IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - 8
IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - 9
IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - 10
IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - 11
IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - 12
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IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - 63
IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - 64
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IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - 66
IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - 67
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IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - 69
IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - 70
IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - 71
IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - 72
IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - Cover3
IEEE Spectrum March, 2013 - Cover4
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