Market Talk – April 20, 2021 | Armstrong Economics armstrongeconomics.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from armstrongeconomics.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
4 hours ago
THE drive to develop electric-powered aviation through Project Fresson started at the end of 2019 with a grant of £9m. from a programme run by the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI).
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Concept art showing how a hydrogen-fuelled Islander might look (29382810)
Since then, a decision to move the focus away from lithium-ion batteries to hydrogen fuel cells has seen a number of changes, which include the departure from the consortium of Rolls-Royce.
Ricardo UK and Innovatus Technologies have been announced as new members of the Fresson consortium.
While Ricardo brings with it expertise in fuel cell system development, Innovatus has developed a lightweight hydrogen fuel tank technology.
ZeroAvia’s hydrogen fuel cell plane ambitions clouded by technical challenges
Aspirations remain sky high
When ZeroAvia’s six-seater aircraft completed an eight-minute flight from Cranfield Airfield in the U.K. last September, the company claimed a “major breakthrough” with the first-ever hydrogen fuel cell flight of a commercial-size aircraft.
The modified Piper Malibu propeller plane was now the largest hydrogen-powered aircraft in the world, wrote the company. “While some experimental aircraft have flown using hydrogen fuel cells, the size of this aircraft shows that paying passengers could be boarding a truly zero-emission flight very soon,” added Val Miftakhov, ZeroAvia’s CEO.
In California, propelling their mission towards delivering airlines zero-carbon, hydrogen-fueled flight, ZeroAvia is launching the development program for a 2MW hydrogen-electric powertrain for full-size regional aircraft. The program kick-off is supported by a new raise of $24.3 million, led by Horizons Ventures, joined by a new investor British Airways. Existing investors Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Ecosystem Integrity Fund, Summa Equity, Shell Ventures, and SYSTEMIQ also participated in the financing. This new round accelerates the larger hydrogen-electric engine development for the 50+ seat aircraft and supports additional commercial airlines initiatives to adopt hydrogen in aviation. Today’s announcement brings the company’s total private investment to over $53 million and the total funding raised since inception to nearly $74 million.
ZeroAvia to developer HyFlyer II at Cotswold Airport | Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard wiltsglosstandard.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wiltsglosstandard.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.