The number of submarines patrolling the world’s oceans is constantly growing. To protect their territorial waters as well as their interests in different regions of the world, submarine operating nations are therefore facing two significant challenges: range – and therefore autonomy – and discretion. Propulsion plays a significant role in this context, but existing technologies have a number of limitations, including the production of hydrogen-like Lead-Acid Batteries (LAB) – which presents a significant safety risk.
Lithium-Ion Batteries (LIB) hold great promises on a number of aspects. They provide greater energy than LABs, therefore giving submarines greater submerged autonomy while reducing indiscretion rate. They are also far more…