Joby at the Show, After 523-mile Hydrogen-electric Flight

Our Bureau - : Jul 22, 2024 - : 3:03 am

Just weeks after successfully flying a first-of-its-kind hydrogen-electric air taxi demonstrator 523 miles, Joby Aviation is at the year's biggest airshow, showcasing the progress of its battery-electric air taxi development program. According to company officials, the hydrogen-electric test flight demonstrates...

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According to company officials, the hydrogen-electric test flight demonstrates the potential for hydrogen to unlock emissions-free, regional journeys that don’t require a runway. “Traveling by air is central to human progress, but we need to find ways to make it cleaner. With our battery-electric air taxi set to fundamentally change the way we move around cities, we’re excited to now be building a technology stack that could redefine regional travel using hydrogen-electric aircraft," says JoeBen Bevirt, Founder and CEO, Joby.

“The vast majority of the design, testing and certification work we’ve completed on our battery-electric aircraft carries over to commercializing hydrogen-electric flight. In service, we also expect to be able to use the same landing pads, the same operations team, and Joby’s ElevateOS software that will support the commercial operation of our battery-electric aircraft,” Bevirt added.

The test flight was completed in June using a converted Joby pre-production prototype battery-electric aircraft fitted with a liquid hydrogen fuel tank and fuel cell system. It landed with 10% of its hydrogen fuel load remaining.

Joby’s hydrogen-electric demonstrator is part of the Company’s future technology program and is the result of several years of collaboration between a small team at Joby and H2FLY, Joby’s wholly-owned subsidiary based in Stuttgart, Germany. The converted aircraft previously completed more than 25,000 miles of testing as a battery-electric aircraft at Joby’s base in Marina, CA.

Joby’s hydrogen-electric demonstrator is part of the company’s future technology program and is the result of several years of collaboration between a small team at Joby and H2FLY, Joby’s wholly-owned subsidiary based in Stuttgart, Germany. The converted aircraft previously completed more than 25,000 miles of testing as a battery-electric aircraft at Joby’s base in Marina, CA.

Using the same airframe and overall architecture as Joby’s core, battery-electric aircraft, the demonstrator features a liquid hydrogen fuel tank, designed and built by Joby, which stores up to 40 kilograms of liquid hydrogen, alongside a reduced mass of batteries. Hydrogen is fed into a fuel cell system, designed and built by H2FLY, to produce electricity, water, and heat. The electricity produced by the hydrogen fuel cell powers the six electric motors on the Joby aircraft, with the batteries providing additional power primarily during take-off and landing.

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