6 Hydrogen-Powered Aircraft that Are Hitting the Skies Soon, from a Flying Car to a Private Jet

by Dan Sloat (Robb Report) These H2eVTOLs are just concepts at this point, but they're coming. And they have the potential to help make aviation emissions free. -- 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 (eVTOL) 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 trying to work out the concepts, or at best, flying a scaled-down prototype.

There is virtually no hydrogen infrastructure in airports, and concerns remain about safety with hydrogen’s reputation for flammability.

Some experts also argue that the extraction, transportation, and storage infrastructure for hydrogen are simply too expensive to justify at the moment. But proponents, including the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer Airbus, are fiercely loyal to the advantages they see with hydrogen in the long term. Airbus expects to have hydrogen-powered commercial regional jets flying in the next 10 years. However hydrogen flight develops, it’s clear it has the potential to be instrumental role in decarbonizing aviation.

Here are six leading H2eVTOLs that plan to commercialize their aircraft by the end of the decade.

Excerpt from Pittsburgh Post Gazette/Associated Press: Natural gas producer CNX Resources said it plans to build a $1.5 billion facility at Pittsburgh International Airport to make hydrogen-based fuels, but only if President Joe Biden’s administration allows coal mine methane to qualify for tax credits that are central to the Democrat's plan to fight climate change.

The proposed facility has the backing of Pittsburgh-area labor unions, which hope to fill thousands of construction jobs, and top Pennsylvania officials, including U.S. Sen. Bob Casey. But it is likely to face scrutiny from clean energy and climate change activists.

The announcement comes as Mr. Biden's administration decides how to tailor billions of dollars in tax credits in a massive effort to build out a hydrogen industry to be a cleaner alternative to fossil fueled energy and slash planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

CNX said the facility would remove a potent greenhouse gas from the atmosphere — methane vented from coal mines — and blend it with natural gas to produce enough hydrogen-based airline fuel to supplant almost all of the jet fuel consumption at Pittsburgh International Airport. READ MORE