4 ms·

[Maybe disregard this, as I'm not your requested audience, and I realize this is a tech/biz post to HN and you are deep in the details of confronting the unknow

[Maybe disregard this, as I'm not your requested audience, and I realize this is a tech/biz post to HN and you are deep in the details of confronting the unknown, but...] I think for pitch-deck/public communication, as soon as you say "hydrogen aircraft", immediately address or at least acknowledge "what could possibly go wrong-Hindenburg" and "why not batteries" (not para 3). EDIT you could defer the issue with "Fuel cell electric aircraft" BTW The first solar+battery electric aircraft world-circumnavigation got hardly any publicity, which puzzled me https://en.wikipedia.org https://en.wikipedia.org https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9824570/wiki/Solar_Impulse#Solar_Impulse_2_(HB-SIB) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9824570/wiki/Solar_Impu... EDIT Since I'm already downvoted, I'll add: I wonder about fuel cells for powered paraponts/paragliders, where battery-electric are available, but aren't quite there yet vs petrol, esp for range.

stuart8ol 3y ago
Thanks - I hear you, safety around hydrogen is always a big concern. We do address it head on often but it will always come up in any conversation about it. The "why not batteries? question is audience dependent - some people have given up on batteries and others, they see that it works for EVs so expect it to work for aircraft too. Will keep your feedback in mind, especially for sales!
foobarian 3y ago
Another thing that is probably out of scope for OP is safety in handling LH at the ports. Presumably there would be many of these high-pressure tanks laying around ready to be swapped in (instead of pumped) and would sooner or later cause an accident. But it would be nice to have that problem to solve to begin with :-)
- stuart8ol 3y ago
  That is out of our scope as a business but it is something we have found we have to address head on with our customers and airport partners. They want to understand the whole logistics and associated safety from green H2 production to aircraft tank. We don't have it all figured out yet but we are working with some great partners on the problem. We have created a Hydrogen Flight Alliance here in Brisbane https://newsroom.bne.com.au/hydrogen-flight-alliance-launches-in-brisbane/ https://newsroom.bne.com.au/hydrogen-flight-alliance-launche... that includes, BOC (a Linde Company) and H2EC who are tackling the logistics and re-fueling of liquid hydrogen. Note that we are using liquid H2, which is more expensive than gas, but comes with a variety of benefits, one of which is that it is stored at low pressure. We could opt to store it just over ambient pressure but we will most likely go with storing it < 10 bar - much less than the 350 - 900 bar, that gaseous H2 is typically stored at.
  - hyperthesis 3y ago
    Good, infrastructure matters: Birdseye, famous for fish, got freezers into supermarkets; Edison, famous for lights, constructed generators; Tesla (co), famous for cars, constructed charging stations.

stuart8ol 3y ago

Thanks - I hear you, safety around hydrogen is always a big concern. We do address it head on often but it will always come up in any conversation about it. The "why not batteries? question is audience dependent - some people have given up on batteries and others, they see that it works for EVs so expect it to work for aircraft too. Will keep your feedback in mind, especially for sales!

foobarian 3y ago

Another thing that is probably out of scope for OP is safety in handling LH at the ports. Presumably there would be many of these high-pressure tanks laying around ready to be swapped in (instead of pumped) and would sooner or later cause an accident. But it would be nice to have that problem to solve to begin with :-)

stuart8ol 3y ago
That is out of our scope as a business but it is something we have found we have to address head on with our customers and airport partners. They want to understand the whole logistics and associated safety from green H2 production to aircraft tank. We don't have it all figured out yet but we are working with some great partners on the problem. We have created a Hydrogen Flight Alliance here in Brisbane https://newsroom.bne.com.au/hydrogen-flight-alliance-launches-in-brisbane/ https://newsroom.bne.com.au/hydrogen-flight-alliance-launche... that includes, BOC (a Linde Company) and H2EC who are tackling the logistics and re-fueling of liquid hydrogen. Note that we are using liquid H2, which is more expensive than gas, but comes with a variety of benefits, one of which is that it is stored at low pressure. We could opt to store it just over ambient pressure but we will most likely go with storing it < 10 bar - much less than the 350 - 900 bar, that gaseous H2 is typically stored at.
- hyperthesis 3y ago
  Good, infrastructure matters: Birdseye, famous for fish, got freezers into supermarkets; Edison, famous for lights, constructed generators; Tesla (co), famous for cars, constructed charging stations.