Singapore company HES Energy Systems and partners have unveiled plans for the world’s first regional hydrogen-electric passenger aircraft.
The Element One aircraft will merge HES’s ultra-light hydrogen fuel cell technologies with a distributed electric aircraft propulsion design. The company is targeting the first flying prototype before 2025.
It is designed to carry four passengers for between 500km and 5000km depending on whether hydrogen is stored in gaseous or liquid form.
“This performance is several orders of magnitude better than any battery-electric aircraft attempt so far, opening new aerial routes between smaller towns and rural areas using an existing and dense network of small-scale airports and aerodromes,” HES said.
The company has been working with start-ups in France on the project and has been exploring various locations to execute the Element One vision, including Aerospace Valley, the global aviation R&D hub located in Toulouse.
Refueling the aircraft will take no more than 10 minutes using an automated nacelle swap system, it added. HES is in discussions with industrial-scale hydrogen producers to explore energy-efficient refueling systems using renewable solar or wind energy produced locally.
HES founder Taras Wankewycz said: “It’s now possible to break past the endurance limits of battery-electric flight using HES’ ultra-light hydrogen energy storage in a distributed propulsion arrangement.
“Element One’s design paves the way for renewable hydrogen as a long-range fuel for electric aviation.”