Battery developer OXIS Energy has created a 425 Wh/kg, 16 Ah lithium sulfur (Li-S) cell for High Altitude Pseudo Satellites (HAPS), and is working towards a 450 Wh/kg cell design at the end of this year. The company has its sights set on 500 Wh/kg by the end of 2019.

“At 425 Wh/kg, OXIS has one of the lightest pouch cells currently available and is already attracting significant interest from major players in the aerospace sector. The cell is about to go into prototype applications,” says OXIS CTO Dr. David Ainsworth.

OXIS has also developed a prototype aviation battery that it claims has enabled customers to increase flight time threefold. The battery module uses a lithium sulfur pouch cell with specific energy of 300 Wh/kg.

Huw Hampson-Jones, CEO of OXIS, said the company has invested $10 million to develop lithium sulfur cells for electric buses and trucks. He also took a little dig at Tesla: “In many ways, over the course of the next 2-3 years with commercial development, technological achievements as well as the mass production of lithium sulfur cells coming on stream, the case for investing in lithium-ion gigafactories is a fool’s paradise.”

Source: OXIS via Green Car Congress