Two companies promoting hydrogen power for aircraft are upsizing their aspirations, with aircraft hauling four to up to 40 passengers. Both have ambitious timelines. ZeroAvia, operating in Hollister, California and Cirencester, England has been flying a Piper Malibu demonstrator, but anticipates flying a 10 to 20 passenger Dornier by 2024. It would expand that to a 50-passenger craft by 2026. H2Fly in Germany has been flying their Pipistrel-designed HY4 for several years and through six generations. The firm looks forward to taking incremental steps toward a 40-passenger regional airliner by 2030. ZeroAvia ZeroAvia reports on troubling trends in aviation’s contribution to greenhouse gases, but follows with a possible solution. According to their web site, aviation accounts for over 12 percent of total transportation emissions, and may double that by 2050. High altitude contrails mean aviation emissions have two to four times the effect of ground source emissions. Regulators want drastic changes. The European Union mandates a one quarter the CO2 …
ZeroAvia Gains Backing at High Levels
“Cannot be more proud and humbled to be a part of this stellar team!” That’s power system developer Gabriel DeVault’s response to ZeroAvia’s Chief Financial Officer Katya Akulinicheva’s enthusiastic endorsement of Bloomberg LP’s news. She listed the investors taking an active interest in ZeroAvia, including Ecosystem Integrity Fund, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the Amazon Climate Pledge Fund, Horizons Ventures, Shell Ventures and Summa Equity. Already benefiting from a $16.3 million grant from Innovate UK, Aerospace Technology Institute and Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), ZeroAvia will be able to push forward on plans to create a 19-seat hydrogen-powered commuter liner. According to Bloomberg, “ZeroAvia aims to demonstrate that it can fly a plane 500 miles (804 kilometers) with as many as 20 seats by 2023. It wants to scale up to 1,000 miles with over 100 seats by 2030.” With individuals such as Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos taking an interest, an aviation blog now feels a little like …