Largest plane yet tested with hydrogen-powered engine

Aerospace company ZeroAvia has successfully tested a hydrogen-electric engine to power one of the propellers on a 19-seat aircraft.

To Jeremy Hsu

A plane with an experimental hydrogen-electric engine in the left wing completed a successful test flight this week. Such an aircraft, powered with the help of hydrogen engines, is the largest yet.

UK- and US-based company ZeroAvia conducted a 10-minute test flight using an engine that converts hydrogen fuel into electricity to power one of the plane’s two propellers. ZeroAvia aims to enable commercial flights powered exclusively by hydrogen fuel cells by 2025.

“When people realize that zero-emission flights can be achieved with clean fuels, anywhere they have electricity and water, we can change their minds,” said Jacob Leachman of Washington State University. I’m here.

The demonstration at Cotswolds Airport in Gloucestershire, England, also marked the first flight of a 19-seat Dornier 228 aircraft converted into a test aircraft. This is a significantly larger aircraft than his six-seater Piper Malibu, which ZeroAvia has been using since 2020 to test its hydrogen-electric engines.

If all goes well in subsequent testing, ZeroAvia aims to submit the hydrogen-electric engine for regulatory certification in 2023. This could also pave the way for larger engines suitable for 90-seat aircraft.

Kiruba Haran of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign said:

The aviation start-up has already received investment from American Airlines, along with an agreement for the potential to order up to 100 hydrogen-electric engines in the future.

Airbus, one of the world’s two largest aircraft manufacturers, also previously announced plans to use hydrogen fuel in developing its first zero-emission commercial aircraft by 2035. 2050.

Replacing conventional jet fuel with hydrogen fuel is not enough to transition commercial aviation to true zero-emission flying. Hydrogen fuel production also requires electricity from grids that run on fossil fuels, but researchers are looking at cleaner ways to produce enough hydrogen to power a fleet of aircraft. I’m here.

“When we’re serious about achieving sustainable hydrogen-based aviation, we need to understand how to get hydrogen at scale,” said Jon Hansman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I am talking.”