- CATL partnered with the Civil Aviation University of China to create a joint lab focusing on aviation battery airworthiness standards, testing, validation, and talent development for eVTOL applications.
- CATL highlighted cell targets including condensed matter battery ambitions up to 500 Wh/kg and demonstrated an aviation power pack with prismatic cells at up to 350 Wh/kg resisting adjacent-cell thermal propagation in validation tests.
- The collaboration targets low-altitude and crewed eVTOL segments competing with domestic developers like Autoflight, but faces execution risks around certification timing, scaling safety validation, and meeting stringent weight and redundancy requirements.
On November 11, CATL announced that it had signed an agreement with the Civil Aviation University of China in Ningde, Fujian province, to establish a joint laboratory for aviation battery airworthiness technology innovation.
The partnership will focus on electric and hybrid-electric aviation power systems and low-altitude applications, with research covering airworthiness standards for aviation batteries and methods for demonstrating compliance with those standards.
Under the agreement, the joint laboratory will prioritize the development of technical standards and testing and validation systems for aviation batteries.
The two parties plan to jointly draft and revise civil aviation technical standards and industry association standards, while building a testing and validation platform to strengthen capabilities in aviation battery safety testing and airworthiness verification.
The collaboration will also cover aviation talent development, reforms to emerging engineering disciplines, and the development of training programs jointly delivered by the university and industry.
The partnership comes as China’s eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) and electric general aviation aircraft industries move toward product validation and airworthiness certification.
Compared with batteries used in electric vehicles, aviation batteries face more stringent performance and safety requirements.
Aircraft need high energy density to limit overall weight while meeting range requirements.
At the same time, aviation applications impose stricter requirements for battery thermal runaway, individual cell failures and system redundancy.
Energy density, safety and cycle life remain key constraints on the commercialization of these aircraft.
CATL has already begun developing high-energy-density batteries for aviation applications.
Its condensed matter battery unveiled in 2023 has a targeted cell-level energy density of up to 500 Wh/kg and was explicitly developed with crewed electric aircraft applications in mind.
In August this year, CATL’s aviation power battery system developed for crewed eVTOL aircraft passed a validation test demonstrating that thermal runaway in two adjacent cells would not propagate.
CATL said this was the world’s first aviation power battery system to pass the test using prismatic cells with an energy density of up to 350 Wh/kg.
At the aircraft level, CATL-backed Autoflight unveiled a low-altitude economy solution in November last year, combining eVTOL aircraft with a zero-carbon water-based vertiport.
In February this year, Autoflight completed the transition flight of the world’s first five-ton-class eVTOL aircraft, the Sky Dragon. The aircraft entered the airworthiness certification process in May.
Its two-ton-class cargo aircraft, the CarryAll, has received a type acceptance certificate from Indonesia’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation, becoming the first eVTOL model to obtain this certification.
More broadly, China’s low-altitude economy is moving beyond technology validation and toward commercial deployment at scale.
According to the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s low-altitude economy is expected to exceed RMB 1 trillion ($150.12 billion) in market size in 2026 and could reach RMB 3.5 trillion ($525.42 billion) by 2035.
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