U.S. and European manufacturers have hydrogen-powered aircraft designs that could transform aviation by the decade's end.
Hydrogen propulsion aviation is evolving faster than expected. H2eVTOLs, as they’re known, have significant potential in an increasingly climate-conscious and cost-conscious society. Most of the news has been about pure electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing aircraft that operate by battery power and electric motors. H2eVTOLs, by contrast, have hydrogen fuel cells that power electric motors, and in the odd case, run on liquid hydrogen.
“Hydrogen packs three times the energy per kilogram as jet fuel, emits no carbon emissions, and can be sourced from water,” says Danielle McLean, founder of HYSKY Society, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing hydrogen aviation. McLean notes that hydrogen has been used to power rockets for decades. But for business aviation and Urban Air Mobility, hydrogen is in its infancy. Less than a dozen aircraft start-ups are using either fuel cells or liquid hydrogen as the main power for fixed-wing aircraft or rotorcraft, and most are still experimenting with either the concepts, or at best, a scaled-down prototype.
There is virtually no hydrogen infrastructure in airports, and there are some concerns about safety. But the manufacturers here are working to make their aircraft safe and rely on industry watchdogs such as Germany’s Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, which recently reported that hydrogen aircraft are “no more dangerous than conventional ones—safer in some respects.”
Some experts argue that the extraction, transportation, and storage infrastructure for hydrogen are simply too expensive to justify. But proponents, which include major aircraft manufacturers like Airbus, are fiercely loyal to the advantages of hydrogen in the long term. Airbus expects to have hydrogen-powered commercial regional jets flying in the next 10 years. Whatever path hydrogen flight takes, it’s clear it can play an instrumental role in decarbonizing aviation.
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