PowerCell Group has signed an agreement with an Australian aviation company for a concept study for a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft with minimal emissions. The study includes an order of SEK 7 million (US$680,000) of engineering work for the specification; the customer aims to build prototypes that will be evaluated for commercial use.

The electric vertical take-off and landing segment is replete with many promising future commercial projects. Hydrogen fuel cells are very suitable for this segment due to the high energy relative to the weight that fuel cell technology can achieve. This way a hydrogen electric VTOL aircraft can allow for a good payload, impressive range as well as minimal emissions and low noise, the company suggests.

In this agreement, PowerCell will collaborate with an Australian aviation company to provide a study on how best to design and specify the hydrogen fuel cell system to the powertrain for the aircraft prototypes. The concept study will result in a specification that will form the base for several prototypes with long-term commercial plans.

Our fuel cell solution with high energy density is well suited to meet the challenges of climate friendly aviation and to help decarbonize the industry. PowerCell has currently more than 20 projects within the aviation segment in different stages, and we are glad to see yet another aviation project be realized.

—Richard Berkling, CEO PowerCell Group