Major investment sees ZeroAvia take next step towards hydrogen-electric engine certification

ZeroAvia has announced a major investment boost that will see the manufacturer of hydrogen-electric propulsion systems move one step closer to obtaining the necessary certification for its first hydrogen-electric engine.

This latest round of investment has included Airbus, Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital and NEOM as co-leaders, with Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Horizons Ventures, Alaska Airlines, Ecosystem Integrity Fund, Summa Equity, AP Ventures and Amazon Climate Pledge Fund have also participating in the investment.

ZeroAvia is working on hydrogen-electric propulsion systems as the most environmentally friendly and economically attractive solution to the impact of aviation on climate change. The company’s hydrogen-electric engines use hydrogen in fuel cells to generate electricity, which is then used to power electric motors to rotate the aircraft’s propellers, water being the only byproduct during flight. Airbus is a global leader in examining alternative propulsion using hydrogen. Fuel cell systems are an important part of its ZEROe aircraft concepts program, designed to deliver low-carbon emission airframes of various sizes. The industry major has recently ground tested a hydrogen engine concept at 1.2 MW power. 

The investment will support ZeroAvia’s continued growth and technology development, most notably progressing its first product – ZA600 – through to certification. ZeroAvia recently completed the first stage of flight testing of the prototype ZA600 and is moving to complete design work ahead of certification, targeting 2025 entry-in-service to support up to 20 seat aircraft.  The funding will also enable ZeroAvia to continue to progress its larger engine programme – the ZA2000, a 2-5.4 MW modular powertrain designed to support larger commercial aircraft applications. The company is working on retrofitting a Dash 8-400 76-seat testbed demonstrator provided by Alaska Airlines, with a view to first flight testing with a full-size engine in 2024.

The investment will help ZeroAvia extend the leadership it has established across core in-house technologies for multi-MW class hydrogen-electric engines, including high temperature PEM (HTPEM) fuel cells, advanced electric motors and power electronics, and onboard liquid hydrogen fuel storage.