Does the solution for sustainable air travel lie in hydrogen?

FORWARD By Ron Freund, Electric Auto Association Board Member

The late Geoffrey Ballard, former CEO of Ballard Power Systems in Vancouver, BC, famously stated in 2007 that the last place he’d recommend placing a hydrogen fuel cell would be in an automobile. This was, and still is, because the expense of a practical fueling infrastructure prevents widespread nationwide automotive fuel cell applications. Indeed, the market has spoken regarding battery electric vehicle costs and capabilities. 

But for airplanes, it’s a different story. Longer flights would simply mean higher storage pressures, or larger tanks with little additional weight penalty. Using on-site airport based renewable electrolysis, a business case would pencil out.

Engineering.com has given us permission to repost the following blog from their site.

Flying with Hydrogen Fuel

By Tom Lombardo

The electric aircraft industry [1] is beginning to soar, but the fuel source—batteries—suffer from a poor power-to-weight ratio, limiting zero-emission planes to relatively short flights with few passengers. ZeroAvia thinks the solution is hydrogen, but if the thought of hydrogen-based flight brings up images of an early 20th-century disaster, relax—we’re talking about fuel cells, not dirigibles. 

ZeroAvia recently flew a modified airplane with a 260kW (350hp) powertrain driven by hydrogen fuel cells, as part of the UK’s HyFlyer initiative, a project designed to move electric aircraft away from batteries and toward fuel cells. ZeroAvia’s founder and CEO, Val Miftakhov, believes that hydrogen is the best option for zero-emission flight. Batteries are much heavier and more volatile than fuel cells. Although hydrogen has an explosive reputation, its ignition point is much higher than that of lithium-ion batteries (or even jet fuel, for that matter), and because hydrogen is so light, it tends to disperse rather than collect. Furthermore, an electric powertrain driven by a fuel cell is twice as efficient as an internal combustion engine. Miftakhov suggests that hydrogen can be produced on-site through hydrolysis by building solar arrays on the unused space at airports. (While they’re at it, how about solar carports over the parking lots?

Miftakhov says that the main obstacle of hydrogen-powered flight is the lack of standards, not the technology. At this point, the authorities haven’t established parameters and testing methods, so ZeroAvia is working with regulators to establish specifications and procedures for testing and certifying fuel cell aircraft. That’s one benefit of being a pioneer in an industry: you have an opportunity to become the standard by which others are measured.

ZeroAvia plans to have a 10- to 20-seat aircraft available by 2023. Miftakhov says that its design is scalable and believes that within two decades, a hydrogen-powered 200-seat craft capable of flying more than 3,000 miles (4,800km) will be feasible.

<< END OF ORIGINAL ARTICLE BY TOM LOMBARDO>>

[1] [The electric aircraft industry is in its infancy. The brief engineering.com 4-page white paper provides a history of electric propulsion, a glimpse of different electric propulsion architectures including all electric and hybrid electric, as well as future trends in electric aviation.]  Download for free here: https://www.engineering.com/ResourceMain?resid=694

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An Electric Auto Association epilogue: 

The success of this Cranfield UK trial flight in their second prototype (a commercial-scale aircraft Piper M-class six-seater) demonstrates the decarbonization of commercial aviation and represents a significant milestone both for the UK’s net zero and green aviation ambitions. It is also significant for ZeroAvia, a company on a journey to show viability of long-distance zero emission flights in large aircraft. 

Initially targeting short-haul 10-20-seat commercial flights up to 500 miles, such as air taxis and package delivery runs, ZeroAvia has already secured Federal Aviation Administration experimental certificates for its air taxi prototypes. The company has also passed significant flight tests, and is on track for commercial deliveries by 2023. ZeroAvia’s solution aims to deliver the same performance as a conventional aircraft engine, but with zero carbon emissions and at around half of the operating costs.