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This was a friendly jab. I have a few friends that work as a technicians and engineers, so i know what the challenges in the industry are. But battery overheat

• lmm 14y ago
  We get a story about it happening on a new laptop every few years - it seems like every time you create a new battery there's a risk of this. One would hope Boeing would use an old, certified design, but perhaps modern in-flight entertainment systems use enough power that they needed higher-capacity batteries than had previously been used on aeroplanes?
  • jrockway 14y ago
    The batteries are not for IFE. One is for starting the APU (a generator that starts the main engines and supplies power on the ground), and the other is for supplying the critical systems when both engines and the APU fail simultaneously (i.e., they run out of gas). When the engines are turning, there is no shortage of power for amenities. They used LiIon batteries for the same reason your laptop and phone do: they're small and have good energy density. The older technologies are not. Weight is a big deal and when you want 10% better fuel economy than you had before, you need to cut every gram.