Richard Wang, CEO of Cuberg, is developing lighter, more powerful lithium batteries that could help make electric airplanes a reality
Christophe Testi
Wang began thinking about electric planes as he was starting his battery company in 2015. He was a Stanford PhD student studying materials science at the time, and there was no shortage of battery companies being launched based on academic research. “Many battery startups came out of academia with great ideas and tons of funding, and were all trying to pursue the automotive industry,” he says.
The problem, Wang says, is that the top priority for automotive companies actually isn’t to put the most advanced, next generation batteries into their vehicles—at least not in the short term. That’s because car companies work on thin margins; they have to make sure that everything that goes into assembling a car stays below a price point at which people can actually afford to buy it, and at which they can still make a profit.
Aviation, though, has always been different. Fuel is one of airlines’ biggest expenses. When cutting edge advancements come down the pipeline, like carbon fiber components that save on weight, they’ve historically been willing to pay a higher upfront cost for aircraft if it helps them save money down the road. That means that they tend to jump on the new technology faster than car companies. Wang is betting that the same paradigm will hold true for his batteries.
of all humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions. At the moment, there are few easy options, and most potential carbon fixes, like so-called “sustainable aviation fuels” made from biomass or captured CO2, will be hard to roll out at scale. Proposals to power planes with electricity are in their infancy as well, and such aircraft would have limited range compared to fossil fuel-powered planes. Still, they have the potential to make a difference.
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