National People's Congress Representative and Ganfeng Lithium Chairman Li Liangbin: Accelerate the R&D and commercialization of aircraft power batteries

The low-altitude economy, which has been included in government work reports for three consecutive years, continues to attract widespread social attention. Li Liangbin, a deputy to the National People’s Congress and Chairman of Ganfeng Lithium, suggests launching a series of policies and measures to encourage the development of high-energy-density, high-power aircraft batteries, accelerating the research, development, and commercialization of related products.

This year’s government work report emphasizes cultivating and expanding emerging industries and future industries. It proposes implementing industrial innovation projects, encouraging central and state-owned enterprises to lead the opening of application scenarios, and building emerging pillar industries such as integrated circuits, aerospace, biomedicine, and the low-altitude economy. The low-altitude economy is now in its third inclusion in the government work report after 2024 and 2025. Its positioning has shifted from “new growth engine” and “emerging industry” to “new pillar industry.”

In recent years, the low-altitude economy market has developed rapidly and is becoming a new arena for global technological and industrial competition. According to industry forecasts, China’s low-altitude economy market size will reach 1.5 trillion yuan by 2025 and is expected to hit 3.5 trillion yuan by 2035, with broad growth potential.

Core aircraft such as electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles and large drones, which are central to the low-altitude flight sector, require continuous high thrust during takeoff, landing, and hovering to overcome gravity. However, due to the unique flight scenarios, aircraft need to be lighter to reduce energy consumption. Therefore, the power systems of aircraft demand much higher energy density, discharge rates, and reliability than ground vehicles, far exceeding the requirements for electric cars.

In recent years, China has made positive progress in the layout of the low-altitude economy and the commercialization of power batteries. However, the path to commercial integration remains challenging. Currently, commercialized eVTOL batteries have achieved energy densities above 300Wh/kg, meeting initial demonstration needs. To realize economical urban air mobility, these must evolve to 400–500Wh/kg or higher. Meanwhile, existing battery standards do not fully cover the harsh operating conditions of aircraft, such as thunderstorms, high-altitude low temperatures, and high wind speeds.

Addressing the pain points and difficulties in the R&D and commercialization of high-energy, high-power aircraft batteries, Li Liangbin combines industry practices and development trends to propose several specific suggestions, covering aspects from top-level design to ecosystem construction.

Policy-wise, he recommends strengthening top-level design and coordinated planning, led by relevant national departments, to research and formulate a “Long-term Development Special Plan for Power Batteries in Low-Altitude Flight Applications.” This plan should clarify the development path of battery technology, industry incubation goals, and commercialization roadmap, closely aligning with the national low-altitude economy development plan and local plans, and pilot some application scenarios.

In R&D, he suggests establishing a national major science and technology project titled “Advanced Power Systems for Low-Altitude Aircraft,” gathering enterprises, universities, and research institutes to jointly tackle core performance issues such as high energy density, ultra-high power, and wide temperature ranges of batteries under extreme aviation conditions, improving R&D efficiency across different scenarios.

For standardization, he recommends encouraging industry associations, leading enterprises, and relevant government departments to collaborate on developing industry and national standards for aircraft-specific batteries, covering performance, safety, testing methods, and recycling requirements for cells, modules, and systems across various flight scenarios. These standards should be dynamically aligned with international standards to ensure global market access.

Li Liangbin states that seizing the window of transitioning from technological R&D to industrialization in the low-altitude flight market, and continuously improving battery performance, holds significant strategic importance for ensuring the independence, controllability, safety, and stability of the low-altitude economy industry chain.