4 ms·

It would be specially interesting for aviation, since the energy density of batteries is still too low for commercial aircraft. Airbus is pushing for zero emiss

It would be specially interesting for aviation, since the energy density of batteries is still too low for commercial aircraft. Airbus is pushing for zero emissions H2-powered planes: https://www.airbus.com/innovation/zero-emission/hydrogen/zeroe.html https://www.airbus.com/innovation/zero-emission/hydrogen/zer...

jillesvangurp 6y ago
What makes hydrogen interesting in aviation is that it is possible to convert existing engine designs to burn hydrogen apparently. There have been a few tests with this recently. Mid term, hydrogen is the obvious way to clean up the aviation industry. Basically as soon as hydrogen prices drop below kerosene prices, companies will start doing this by themselves because it makes economical sense. Right now it's more of an investment for the long term. Airbus is clearly betting that this is going to happen in the next two decades or so. If you look at clean energy cost dropping over time, they might be right about that. Battery powered planes also make sense; just not for the bigger planes any time soon. But with another decade of battery improvements, GA planes & battery is going to be a no brainer-solution for a lot of use cases. Basically, this will be driven by cost. At some point battery powered is going to be cheap and good enough that the added advantage of low energy cost and vastly simpler/cheaper maintenance is going to be a killer argument. E.g. flight schools are already switching because it makes economical sense. If you look at the R&D pipelines of companies in this space, ten years could solve a lot of issues. Think double/triple the range of current electrical planes at half the cost. Small planes are expensive to operate currently and fuel & maintenance are big factors here.
- JorgeGT 6y ago
  Completely correct, H2 either in fuel cells or burnt in turbines and battery-powered hybridization are two of the pillars of the EU's Clean Aviation R&D programme: https://clean-aviation.eu/files/Clean%20Aviation%20-%20Shared%20Vision%2014%20Jan%20FINAL.pdf https://clean-aviation.eu/files/Clean%20Aviation%20-%20Share...

jillesvangurp 6y ago

What makes hydrogen interesting in aviation is that it is possible to convert existing engine designs to burn hydrogen apparently. There have been a few tests with this recently. Mid term, hydrogen is the obvious way to clean up the aviation industry. Basically as soon as hydrogen prices drop below kerosene prices, companies will start doing this by themselves because it makes economical sense. Right now it's more of an investment for the long term. Airbus is clearly betting that this is going to happen in the next two decades or so. If you look at clean energy cost dropping over time, they might be right about that. Battery powered planes also make sense; just not for the bigger planes any time soon. But with another decade of battery improvements, GA planes & battery is going to be a no brainer-solution for a lot of use cases. Basically, this will be driven by cost. At some point battery powered is going to be cheap and good enough that the added advantage of low energy cost and vastly simpler/cheaper maintenance is going to be a killer argument. E.g. flight schools are already switching because it makes economical sense. If you look at the R&D pipelines of companies in this space, ten years could solve a lot of issues. Think double/triple the range of current electrical planes at half the cost. Small planes are expensive to operate currently and fuel & maintenance are big factors here.

JorgeGT 6y ago
Completely correct, H2 either in fuel cells or burnt in turbines and battery-powered hybridization are two of the pillars of the EU's Clean Aviation R&D programme: https://clean-aviation.eu/files/Clean%20Aviation%20-%20Shared%20Vision%2014%20Jan%20FINAL.pdf https://clean-aviation.eu/files/Clean%20Aviation%20-%20Share...