6 Startups lead the growing market

These 6 startups are leading the growing hydrogen aircraft market, which could be worth nearly €130 billion by 2040
While many aviation companies are focused on developing battery-powered aircraft to propel travel to a zero-emissions future, some are betting on a technology they think is better suited to flying high: Hydrogen.
As a result, the global market for hydrogen-powered aircraft is expected to grow to $23.7 billion (about €21 billion at current exchange rates) by 2030 and $144.5 billion (€129 billion) by 2040, according to Allied Market Research .

Increasing air traffic and the global drive to reduce aviation-related emissions are the main drivers for the growth of the hydrogen aircraft market .
Hydrogen, the most abundant element in the world, can power an aircraft by burning it in an internal combustion engine or generating electricity using a fuel cell.

Hydrogen is attractive not only because it reduces CO2 emissions compared to jet fuel , but because fuel cells do not add enormous weight to an aircraft, as batteries do.
That weight is one of the main reasons experts don't expect to see a battery-powered long-range aircraft anytime soon.

According to a study by Clean Sky 2 and Fuel Cells & Hydrogen 2 Joint, hydrogen combustion could reduce aviation's climate impact by 50 to 75 percent and hydrogen fuel cells by 75 to 90 percent companies.

Both joint ventures are European Union initiatives to reduce emissions from aviation and accelerate hydrogen and fuel cell technology.

The downside is that hydrogen is expensive to produce and handle. It also requires much more storage space than jet fuel, which means a hydrogen-powered aircraft would either have to carry fewer people to have enough space to store the fuel , or be a much larger aircraft than those currently on the market.

Significant investment would also be needed to build an infrastructure for hydrogen, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Large-scale hydrogen production may also not be completely green . Most hydrogen used today is produced from fossil fuels, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which releases carbon dioxide and increases the greenhouse effect.
It can be produced by water in a process called electrolysis, but the method is expensive, requires a lot of energy and uses little. Depending on the power source, some emissions may also be released.
The benefits of hydrogen in aviation will likely be seen first in long-haul flights, while batteries power short-haul flights.

Here are 6 startups helping to shape the growing hydrogen-based aviation industry.

AeroDelft,

AeroDelft was founded in 2017 by students at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands with the goal of developing the world's first aircraft powered by liquid hydrogen.
He created the Phoenix, an aircraft with a liquid hydrogen fuel cell propulsion system that he says can fly for seven hours on one kilo of liquid hydrogen. The first flight of his scale model of the Phoenix is scheduled for this summer.

HyPoint,

HyPoint is a Menlo Park, California-based startup founded in 2019 that has developed what it calls a turbocharged hydrogen fuel cell system .
It was founded by Alex Ivanenko, Brian Benicewicz, John Vogel, Rhonda Staudt, Sergey Panov and Sergey Shubenkov.

The company claims its fuel cell system reduces weight compared to conventional liquid cooling and is ideal for drones, air cabs and fixed-wing aircraft.

H2Fly
H2Fly is a German startup founded in 2015 that is developing a hydrogen-electric powertrain to be used in a range of aircraft, from air cabs to regional jets.
It created the HY4, a 4-seat demonstration aircraft, and signed a partnership with Deutsche Aircraft in 2021 to build a hydrogen-powered Dornier 328, a 40-seat aircraft capable of traveling up to 1,995 kilometers by 2025.

Mar 29, 2022