Hydrogen-powered electric plane on Alaska Air and ZeroAvia plans

The joint effort of Alaska Air Group and ZeroAvia will eventually provide the world with a new hydrogen-powered electric airliner. At least according to the current plan. The duo is working on the development of an even more efficient hydrogen-electric drivetrain, which will be implemented in the 76-seater Havilland Q400 by 2026.

Alaska Air has teamed up with ZeroAvia to help scale technology and provide the world with a hydrogen-powered electric plane

The plan envisages that in the final version, the ZA2000 hydrogen-electric driveline should offer a power of 2,000-5,000 kW and a range of almost 805 kilometers. It will also be an important part of Alaska Air’s plan to bring its fleet’s emissions to zero over the next 19 years. This effort, in turn, includes novel forms of alternative propulsion, among which hydrogen is the most prominent one.

Also read: From New York to London in 3 hours, the EON-01 supersonic plane

Alaska Air hopes that its experience and cash will help ZeroAvia to refine its hydrogen-electric technology more quickly and implement it on airliners. The two companies will work together to scale up the existing ZeroAvia propulsion platform technology to support electric planes that will be able to fly with more passengers for greater distances.

Also read: Startup Wright revealed 2 megawatt electric motors for airplanes

This propulsion system uses current generated current from hydrogen fuel cells stored in the wings. This, in turn, goes directly to the engines or modest batteries if there is a surplus of energy.