American Airlines commits to conditional purchase of 100 ZeroAvia hydrogen-powered engines, increases investment
03 July 2024
American Airline entered into a conditional purchase agreement with ZeroAvia for 100 hydrogen-electric engines intended to power regional jet aircraft with zero inflight emissions save for water vapor. (Earlier post.)
In addition, American has increased its investment in ZeroAvia. American made its first investment in ZeroAvia in 2022 and has also now participated in the company’s Series C financing round. The engine agreement follows the Memorandum of Understanding the companies announced in 2022.
ZeroAvia is developing hydrogen-electric (fuel cell-powered) engines for commercial aircraft, which offer the potential for close to zero inflight emissions. The company is flight testing a prototype for a 20-seat plane and designing an engine for larger aircraft such as the Bombardier CRJ700, which American operates on certain regional routes.
The investment and conditional commitment to purchase novel engine technology contributes to American’s goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. American now has the youngest mainline fleet of any major US network carrier. American has made industry-leading investments in sustainability, including finalizing an offtake agreement with Infinium, a producer of next-generation low-carbon sustainable aviation fuel, and becoming the first customer of Graphyte’s innovative and permanent carbon removal process.
ZeroAvia has submitted its first powertrain (ZA-600) for up to 20 seat planes for certification with a target of the end of 2025 and is working on a larger powertrain for 40–80 seat aircraft by 2027 (ZA-2000).
The ZA600 is a 500 to 750 kW continuous hydrogen-electric powertrain for fixed-wing platforms, fueled by gaseous hydrogen. The ZA-2000 is a 2-5MW modular hydrogen-electric powertrain, is fueled by liquid hydrogen tanks and is projected to be capable of carrying passengers up to 1000 NM.
Founded in California and now with thriving teams in Everett, WA and the United Kingdom, ZeroAvia has secured experimental certificates to test its engines in three separate testbed aircraft with the FAA and CAA and passed significant flight test milestones.
The company has signed a number of key engineering partnerships with major aircraft OEMs and has nearly 2,000 pre-orders for engines from a number of the major global airlines, with future revenue potential of more than $10 billion.
Unfortunately Universal Hydrogen has gone bust:
https://www.flightglobal.com/air-transport/us-start-up-universal-hydrogen-runs-out-of-cash-and-folds/158958.article
' The Hawthorne, California-based company had been developing hydrogen-fuel-cell propulsion conversions for both De Havilland Canada Dash 8s and ATR turboprops, with long-term ambitions of providing hydrogen-based propulsion packages for Airbus’ and Boeing’s next clean-sheet narrowbody designs. '
I would note that the viability of a business depends on the legislative environment in which it operates.
The current tax free (on fuel) pass to aircraft producers and operators to build aeroplanes designed for and running on massively GHG emitting fuels means that they have little or no incentive to invest to actually produce truly carbon free flight.
Airbus is somewhat tentative, Boeing is hopeless on so many levels.
Start ups are going to struggle, unless the reality of the vast emissions of the aircraft industry are actually reflected in pricing and legislation.
Posted by: Davemart | 03 July 2024 at 02:55 AM
Someone here said ZeroAvia was a con job guess they were wrong
Posted by: SJC | 03 July 2024 at 02:50 PM
Hi SJC
It may have been me you were thinking of, as I was very dubious on so many levels, and certainly they were fairly close to the wind in their claims, as perhaps start ups have to be,
The one that I came out and said was a almost certainly a con was Nikola, although I support many aspects of hydrogen technology. I realised that and posted to that effect when they sacked a very reputable fuel cell company, presumably because they would not go along with their excessive claims, and said they had proprietary wundercells.
Airbus are at least looking at incorporating Zero Avia stuff, so that may help keep them on the straight and narrow.
It is a rocky road for start ups, if they don't claim that they will make the moon and sixpence, no funds, so the temptation is extreme.
Anything like proper costing and legislation for emissions, or even equitable taxation on aircraft fuel, and the prospects for developing really low carbon technology, including perhaps figuring out how to produce SAF in quantity, would be transformed, whether it is Zero Avia or anyone else.
A free pass for aircraft emissions is what makes development of alternatives difficult.
Posted by: Davemart | 04 July 2024 at 02:16 AM
Good points, Davemart and SJC.
Indeed, new-energy start-up companies are facing huge hurdles that they will need as much government support as possible in order to have any chance of success. For this reason, the US, EU, and China have given generous subsidies and grants for new-energy start-ups in the fields of EV, FCV, and RE.
Additionally, the future ban on ICEV by 2035 announced in many regions of the world has helped guide investment and direction.
Furthermore, I believe that a gradually increasing fossil fuel tax at a rate of 5% to 7% would further incentivize the shift toward RE.. For example, if current fuel tax is $1 per gallon, then next year fuel tax would be $1.05...and so on. The rise is gradual to avoid undue hardship on the consumers and on the economy, yet would give a clear time-table for companies and consumers to plan ahead with investment and development.
Many energy companies currently selling predominantly fossil fuel may find this policy helpful for them to justify divestment from further drilling and fracking and start investing in solar and wind farms and in green H2 plants and H2 pipelines and H2 underground storage facilities.
It is very important to get the cooperation of these massive energy companies who already have massive experience and expertise in handling gaseous fuel and who have massive resources to invest in RE.
Posted by: Roger Pham | 08 July 2024 at 01:04 PM