Satair gets ready for lithium-ion

With entry into commercial airline service of the first Saft Lithium-ion battery this year on a Finnair A350, Satair Group is well placed to play a significant role in the take-up of this new technology.

Satair Group is one of three companies that have been selected by Saft to distribute the new batteries on a worldwide basis.

Jean-Marc Thevenoud, Marketing Manager for Saft Aviation stated that, while all three companies are treated equally, “we have very good relations with Satair Group and they certainly have the capabilities to meet the customers’ needs around the world.”

Lithium-ion batteries are proven across a multitude of uses such as in smartphones and touchpads and in larger applications across railways, telecommunications, electric vehicles, military aircraft and satellites.

For the A350, Saft’s first lithium-ion battery for a commercial aircraft has met the highest Design Assurance Level – A standard on an aircraft, the first in the world to meet this target.

There are only four identical and interchangeable batteries on the A350, meaning less weight and reduced fuel consumption. They are controlled directly from the flight deck, have constant health monitoring, and require fewer maintenance checks - a single check every two years up to six years and then on a yearly basis.

A further innovation is Saft’s battCARE® Ground Support Equipment allowing a number of different operations to be performed on-wing without the need to remove batteries, including periodic battery control, commissioning charge, storage charge, discharge and battery status checks. This work can also be done off-wing.

For customers requiring battery function testing off-wing, Satair Group offers support programmes and the Heathrow battery shop in the UK is being equipped with a battCARE® GSE to offer testing services to airlines that prefer to have their inventory managed by Satair Group.

Any maintenance issues with SAFT lithium-ion batteries will be dealt with directly by Saft for several years to build up experience and feedback.