Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft have attracted considerable interest as a disruptive technology to transform future transportation systems. Their unique operating profiles and requirements present grand challenges to batteries. This work identifies the primary battery requirements for eVTOL in terms of specific energy and power, fast charging, cycle life, and safety, revealing that eVTOL batteries have more stringent requirements than electric vehicle batteries in all aspects. Notably, we find that fast charging is essential for downsizing aircraft and batteries for low cost while achieving high vehicle utilization rates to maximize revenues. We experimentally demonstrate two energy-dense Li-ion battery designs that can recharge adequate energy for 80 km eVTOL trips in 5–10 min and sustain over 2,000 fast-charge cycles, laying a foundation for eVTOL batteries.

电动垂直起降 (eVTOL) 飞机作为改变未来交通系统的颠覆性技术引起了相当大的兴趣。它们独特的操作特性和要求给电池带来了巨大的挑战。这项工作从比能量和功率、快速充电、循环寿命和安全性等方面确定了 eVTOL 对原电池的要求，揭示了 eVTOL 电池在各个方面都比电动汽车电池具有更严格的要求。值得注意的是，我们发现快速充电对于以低成本缩小飞机和电池的尺寸，同时实现高车辆利用率以最大化收入至关重要。我们通过实验证明了两种能量密集型锂离子电池设计，它们可以在 5-10 分钟内为 80 公里 eVTOL 行程充电足够的能量，并维持 2,000 多个快速充电循环，