Batteries as Structure: Rethinking Energy Systems for Aerospace and Defence

Monday, 11 May 2026

Batteries are usually treated as payload: heavy, passive systems that must be carried, protected and integrated into a platform. Structural batteries challenge that assumption by turning the energy system into part of the load-bearing architecture.

In this session, John Moffat, Founder and CEO of The Structural Battery Company, will introduce structural battery technology and explain how structural energy systems can reduce mass, save volume and simplify integration in applications where every kilogram and every cubic centimetre matter. Drawing on The Structural Battery Company’s work in heavy-lift UAVs, aerospace and defence, the talk will explore how batteries can evolve from a component into a platform architecture — and why this matters for the next generation of electrified vehicles, aircraft and autonomous systems.

Why treating batteries as passive payloads limits performance in weight‑ and volume‑constrained systems

How structural batteries combine energy storage and load‑bearing function into a single architecture

The mass, volume and integration benefits achievable through structural energy systems

Lessons learned from deploying structural batteries in heavy‑lift UAV, aerospace and defence applications

What structural battery architectures enable for next‑generation electric vehicles, aircraft and autonomous platforms