ZeroAvia is a British/American hydrogen-electric aircraft developer. The company was founded in 2017 by Valery Miftakhov, who currently serves as the company CEO. ZeroAvia is developing hydrogen-fueled powertrain technology aiming to compete with conventional engines in propeller aircraft, with an aim of zero-emission and lower noise. ZeroAvia expects to sell products by 2023 and demonstrate flights up to in aircraft of up to 20 seats. According to the company, by 2026, ZeroAvia intends to fly an aircraft over 500 miles range in aircraft with up to 80 seats.

History

Piper PA-46

In 2019, the company completed flight tests of the electrical aspects of the initial powertrain design, where it was later reported that an external hydrogen tank was fitted to a Piper Matrix. The company moved to a facility in

Cranfield Cranfield is a village and civil parish in the west of Bedfordshire, England, situated between Bedford and Milton Keynes. It had a population of 4,909 in 2001. increasing to 5,369 at the 2011 census. The parish is in Central Bedfordshire uni ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 2020. Installation and test of the ZA250 hydrogen–electric powertrain in a six-seat Piper Malibu took place at Cranfield during 2020, culminating in an eight-minute first flight of the hydrogen-electric Malibu in September that year. It was the company's first commercial-scale hydrogen-electric-powered flight. In December 2020, the company was awarded £12.3 million, from the UK Government's ATI Programme, to develop a 19-seat hydrogen powered aircraft with a flight to be completed by 2023. In March 2021, ZeroAvia launched development for a 2 MW hydrogen-electric powertrain for full-size regional aircraft. The following month, the company announced it would develop the HyFlyer II aircraft at Cotswold Airport. On 29 April 2021, ZeroAvia's hydrogen-powered Piper PA-46-350P demonstrator testbed crashed in a field during a flight from Cranfield. No one was seriously hurt in the accident, but the aircraft received substantial damage, losing its left wing, after it was forced to land following a power system test. Investigation revealed that when the battery was disconnected to test operation on the fuel cell alone, excessive voltage generated by the motor turned by the propeller caused a protective shutdown of the motor's inverter.

Dornier 228

ZeroAvia obtained two

Dornier 228 The Dornier 228 is a twin-turboprop STOL utility aircraft, designed and first manufactured by Dornier GmbH (later DASA Dornier, Fairchild-Dornier) from 1981 until 1998. 245 were built in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. In 1983, Hindustan Aeronautics ...

aircraft for the next phase of its 19-seat HyFlyer program in June 2021. In August 2021, ZeroAvia completed its first high-power run of the ZA-600, a hydrogen aircraft engine. Ground testing included a flight-intent powertrain, which pulled a 15-ton HyperTruck mobile ground testing platform across the tarmac. The HyperTruck tests systems for 40-80 seat hydrogen-electric powered aircraft and is sized to ZeroAvia’s ZA-2000 + powertrain. These propulsion system tests are for the HyFlyer II programme, which hopes to develop a hydrogen-electric, zero-emission propulsion system for airframes 10–20 seats in size. Later in 2021, the first HyFlyer II’s Dornier 228 aircraft test-flights were anticipated to take place at the Kemble facility. In 2022, the company announced a partnership with Otto Aviation to build a hydrogen-powered version of the Otto Celera 500L aircraft. That same year,

Textron Aviation Textron Aviation Inc. is the general aviation business unit of the conglomerate Textron that was formed in March 2014 following the acquisition of Beech Holdings which included the Beechcraft and Hawker Aircraft businesses. The new business uni ...

and ZeroAvia partnered for the development of a hydrogen-electric powertrain for the

Cessna Grand Caravan The Cessna 208 Caravan is a utility aircraft produced by Cessna. The project was commenced on November 20, 1981, and the prototype first flew on December 9, 1982. The production model was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA ...

. On 19 January 2023, ZeroAvia flew its Dornier 228 testbed for 10 minutes with one

TPE331 The Honeywell TPE331 (military designation: T76) is a turboprop engine. It was designed in the 1950s by Garrett AiResearch, and produced since 1999 by successor Honeywell Aerospace. The engine's power output ranges from . Design and developme ...

turboprop replaced by a prototype hydrogen-electric powertrain in the cabin, consisting of two

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

s and a

lithium-ion battery A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are characterized by higher specific energy, energ ...

for peak power. The aim is to have a certifiable configuration by 2025. The test campaign is planned for 10 to 20 flights. The commercial platform is intended to be a 10- to 20-seat aircraft.

DHC-8

In October 2021, ZeroAvia announced a collaboration with

Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines is a major American airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, within the Seattle metropolitan area. It is the fifth-largest airline in North America when measured by scheduled passengers carried, as of 2024. Alaska, togethe ...

to develop the ZA-2000 hydrogen-electric powertrain, capable of producing between 2,000 kW and 5,000 kW, to power 76-seat regional aircraft with a range of at least . In December 2021, ZeroAvia entered into a partnership with

De Havilland Canada De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited (DHC) is a Canadian aircraft manufacturer that has produced numerous aircraft models since its inception including the popular De Havilland Canada Dash 8, Dash 8. The company's primary facilities were loca ...

with a view to offering the ZA-2000 powertrain as an option for the

DHC-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 ...

airliner, as a line-fit option for new aircraft and as an approved retrofit for existing aircraft. In May 2023, ZeroAvia unveiled a DHC-8 Q400 donated by Alaska Airlines for use as a testbed aircraft.

Operations

Finances

2020

Announced 16 December 2020, ZeroAvi raised $21.4 million in Series A financing led by the Bill Gates-backed power investing fund, Breakthrough Energy Ventures and environmental sustainability VC firm Ecosystem Integrity Fund. Existing investors Sweden's Summa Equity, the venture investing arm of

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...

, private individual Ihar Mahaniok, Hong Kong fund Horizons Ventures, and Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund also participated. At the same time, the firm also received a grant from London-based the Aerospace Technology Institute,

Innovate UK Innovate UK is the United Kingdom's innovation agency, which provides money and support to organisations to make new products and services. It is a non-departmental public body operating at arm's length from the Government as part of the UK Res ...

, and the UK's

Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) was a ministerial department of the United Kingdom Government, from July 2016 to February 2023. The department was formed during a machinery of government change on 14 July ...

, totalling $16.3 million.

2021

Announced on 31 March 2021, ZeroAvia raised $24.3 million in a second round of Series A financing. This round was led by existing investor Horizons Ventures and included previous investors Breakthrough Energy Ventures,

, Summa Equity, and SYSTEMIQ, alongside new investor

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

. Announced on 29 June 2021, ZeroAvia raised $13 million from six existing investors–Breakthrough, Climate Pledge Fund, Horizons, Shell, Summa, and SYSTEMIQ–with four new investors coming on-board, including SGH Capital, AP Ventures,

Alumni Ventures Alumni Ventures ("AV") is an American venture capital firm headquartered in Manchester, New Hampshire. The firm creates investment funds for university alumni to invest in. Background AV was founded in 2014 by Mike Collins. Collins, who previ ...

, and Agartha Fund LP. Announced on 13 December 2021, ZeroAvia raised $35 million in Series B financing that brought in new investors

United Airlines Ventures United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

and the

Alaska Air Group Alaska Air Group, Inc. is an American airline holding company based in SeaTac, Washington, United States. The group owns two mainline carriers, Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines, along with a regional airline, Horizon Air. Alaska Airlines ...

, alongside previous investors AP Ventures, Horizons Ventures,

, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Summa Equity, and Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund.

2023

In September 2023, ZeroAvia announced a new financing round, with

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 ...

as a lead investor. Airbus will also collaborate with ZeroAvia on approaches to certification and technical aspects such as fuelling operations and fuel-cell testing. Other investors in this round include Neom Investment Fund, Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital, Alaska Airlines, Horizons Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and Ecosystem Integrity Fund. The company signed a memorandum of understanding with Verne to evaluate cryo-compressed hydrogen () for use in its planes. Cryo-compressed hydrogen stores gaseous hydrogen at cold temperatures, achieving

energy density In physics, energy density is the quotient between the amount of energy stored in a given system or contained in a given region of space and the volume of the system or region considered. Often only the ''useful'' or extractable energy is measure ...

40% higher than liquid hydrogen and 200% percent more than (350 bar) gaseous hydrogen. Verne claimed that can significantly lower densification costs and refueling times versus liquid hydrogen, while increasing storage duration and potentially eliminating pressure management (venting).

References

External links

*{{Official website, https://www.zeroavia.com/ Hydrogen-powered aircraft Sustainable technologies Aerospace companies of the United States American companies established in 2017