Universal Hydrogen was a company co-founded by Jason Chua, John-Paul Clarke,

Paul Eremenko Paul Eremenko (born 1979, born Pavlo Oleksandrovych Eremenko) is a Ukrainian Americans, Ukrainian American innovator and technology executive. He was formerly the Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of United Technologies Corporat ...

and Jon Gordon, who had previously worked together at

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

and

Raytheon Technologies RTX Corporation, formerly Raytheon Technologies Corporation, is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by reve ...

, with the ambition of making hydrogen-powered flight a reality within a decade. A

maiden flight The maiden flight, also known as first flight, of an aircraft is the first occasion on which it leaves the ground under its own power. The same term is also used for the first launch of rockets. In the early days of aviation it could be dange ...

of a

Dash 8 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was bought by Boeing in 1986, then by Bombardier in 1992, then by Longv ...

aircraft modified on one side with a

hydrogen fuel cell A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most batteries in requ ...

powertrain In a motor vehicle, the powertrain comprises the main components that generate engine power, power and deliver that power to the road surface, water, or air. This includes the internal combustion engine, engine, transmission (mechanics), trans ...

(including Plug Power fuel cells and a motor from

magniX magniX ( ) is an electric motor manufacturer for electric aircraft, wholly owned by Singapore investor Clermont Group. The company is headquartered in Everett, Washington, United States. History The company was founded in 2009 in Australia to r ...

), took place on March 2, 2023; the flight demonstration represented the largest aircraft ever to cruise mainly on hydrogen power. The company was wound up in June 2024 after failing to secure further funding.

Product

The company's main product was intended to be a conversion kit to be retrofitted to existing aircraft to allow them to run on hydrogen fuel. The kits were to consist of hydrogen storage tank modules made by the company, combined with an electric motor made by magniX and fuel cells made by Plug Power.

References

Hydrogen-powered aircraft Aviation and the environment Companies based in California {{Aviation-org-stub