Airbus continues to work on key elements of a hydrogen fuel cell system for its ZEROe programme as it closes in on a critical technology milestone by year-end.
Andy Reynolds, head of ZEROe hydrogen storage and distribution, says the project has already “achieved a lot”, despite the slowdown and reduction in investment announced by the airframer earlier this year.
Airbus hopes to develop a hydrogen fuel cell-powered aircraft capable of transporting 100 passengers on routes of up to 1,000nm (1,850km).
Originally proposed for service entry in 2035, Airbus says the lack of green hydrogen availability will delay that milestone by five to 10 years.
Nonetheless, Reynolds, speaking at the Aerospace Technology Institute’s annual conference on 5 November, said the airframer remains committed to the technology as it offers “true zero-emission operation”.
“We are not ramping up at the pace we thought we were going to if the hydrogen had been available, but we are still investing in hydrogen technology,” he says.
This multi-year investment will ensure Airbus is “ready with the technology” and the necessary legislative and certification frameworks are also in place, alongside a global supply of hydrogen.
Recent milestones include the verification that the hydrogen system has reached technology readiness level 3, a process to be repeated “in the coming weeks” with the fuel cell system, says Reynolds.
“By the end of the year we want to be able to say when we put them together we have a route to a viable product.”
In addition, the airframer on 7 November will deliver the first Airbus-designed and built hydrogen fuel tank.
Manufactured at its site in Nantes in western France, the welded aluminium tank will then be shipped to another Airbus site in Bremen in Germany for equipping before it returns to France for testing at an Air Liquide facility in Grenoble.
Airbus unveiled the ZEROe programme in 2020, a commitment which had a “really big impact on the industry”. However, the slowdown announced earlier this year had a “more negative” impact on the supply chain, he adds.
However, that has given the ZEROe team some breathing room in which to advance the technology.
“We have plenty of challenges, and we need to bring those figures of merit, down to the levels that really make it an attractive product.”
While the findings from its research since the start of the project “have demonstrated that this is really viable, that we can absolutely do this”, the technology is not yet fully mature.
“We have shown it can be done. While it’s not yet a product we can pitch to the market, we are definitely sure it can be done,” says Reynolds.
