A fuel cell engine fuelled by hydrogen is being developed by European aerospace giant Airbus for its zero-emission aircraft that will go into service by 2035, the company announced on Wednesday.
Around the middle of the decade, the company will begin ground and flight testing this fuel cell engine architecture on its ZEROe demonstrator aircraft.
Liquid hydrogen tanks and related equipment are currently being added to the A380 MSN001 flight test aircraft.
“Fuel cells are a potential solution to help us achieve our zero-emission ambition and we are focused on developing and testing this technology to understand if it is feasible and viable for a 2035 entry-into-service of a zero-emission aircraft,” Glenn Llewellyn, VP Zero-Emission Aircraft at Airbus, said.
He was speaking at the Airbus Summit 2022 here.
“At scale, and if the technology targets were achieved, fuel cell engines may be able to power a one hundred passenger aircraft with a range of approximately 1,000 nautical miles,” Llewellyn said.
