Photo by Thomas Naas on Flickr.com
Airbus and Renault Group have signed an agreement aimed at accelerating the electrification roadmaps of both companies.
Two leaders of the aerospace and automotive industries, Airbus and Renault Group, signed a research and development agreement aimed at increasing cross-relationships and synergies to accelerate the electrification roadmaps of both companies and to develop their own product lines.
This partnership, which is aimed at helping Airbus with technologies that will mature the hybrid-electric aircraft of the future, will be detailed at the Airbus Summit between November 30 and December 1.
As part of this partnership, the engineering teams of Airbus and Renault Group will join forces to develop technologies related to energy storage, which remains one of the main obstacles to the development of long-range electric vehicles.
Airbus and Renault will work together on electrification
In particular, the collaboration, which will cover technology structures related to energy management optimization and battery weight improvement, will seek the best ways to move from existing cell chemistries (advanced lithium-ion) to all solid-state designs capable of doubling the energy density of batteries in the 2030 timeframe.
The collaboration will also examine the entire life cycle of future batteries, from manufacturing to recyclability, to prepare for the industrialization of these future battery designs, as well as assess their carbon footprint across their entire lifecycle.
Saying that for the first time, two European leaders from different industries are sharing their engineering knowledge to shape the future of hybrid-electric aircraft, Gilles Le Borgne, Renault Group Vice President of Engineering;
“The aerospace and automobile industries are two extremely challenging areas in terms of safety and energy consumption. At Renault Group, our 10 years of experience in the electric vehicle value chain gives us strong feedback from the field and expertise in the performance of battery management systems.
Driven by the same passion for innovation and carbon footprint reduction, our engineering teams collaborate with Airbus teams to bring together cross-technology that will enable both the operation of hybrid aircraft and the development of the vehicles of tomorrow.” said.
Sabine Klauke, CTO of Airbus, said in her statement;
“This cross-industry partnership with the Renault Group will help us develop next-generation batteries as part of Airbus’ electrification roadmap.” We know that achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 is a unique challenge that requires collaboration between industries, starting today.
Combining Renault Group’s experience in electric vehicles with our own past performance in our electric flight test vehicles will enable us to accelerate the development of the game-changing technologies required for future hybrid aircraft architectures in the 2030s and beyond.
It will also encourage the emergence of common technical and regulatory standards that support the clean mobility solutions needed to meet our climate goals.”
The partnership between Airbus and Renault Group on electrification will play an important role in transforming the transportation sector, successfully contributing to the net zero emissions target of both the automotive and aviation sectors by 2050.
