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French aircraft maker Airbus says battery technology is developing too slowly and that it will turn to hydrogen technology with a view to putting a zero-emission long-haul aircraft into the air by 2035.
“Batteries are not improving at the rate necessary to achieve that ambition,” Airbus’ zero-emission aircraft chief Glen Llewellyn said at a press event on Monday (European time), as FlightGlobal reported.
Llewellyn’s comments come as electric car maker Tesla prepares to unveil new battery technology that CEO and co-founder Elon Musk has called “big,” and as other airlines and Musk himself look at battery-powered planes, as less for short haul flights. .
In a statement posted on the aircraft manufacturer’s website on Monday, Airbus revealed three concept jets that it says would be powered by hydrogen fuel cell technology.
According to Airbus, all three concepts use “hydrogen as a primary energy source”, as the company believes that “it holds exceptional promise as a clean aviation fuel and is likely to be a solution for the aerospace industry and many other industries to meet their demands. climate neutral targets “. . “
“This is a historic moment for the commercial aviation sector as a whole and we intend to play a leading role in the most significant transition this industry has ever seen,” said Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury in a statement. .
“The concepts we present today offer the world a glimpse of our ambition to drive a bold vision for the future of zero-emission flight.
“I strongly believe that the use of hydrogen, both in synthetic fuels and as a primary energy source for commercial aircraft, has the potential to significantly reduce the climate impact of aviation.”
Aviation has been marked as the fastest growing contributor to transportation-related emissions (although this has seen a sharp drop in flights in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic).
While the Air Transport Action Group notes that jets are 80% more efficient than in the 1960s, about 80% of aviation-related emissions are emitted by long-haul flights of more than 1,500 km for those for which there is no other alternative form of transportation.
Faury was reported to have said by the French news site Le Point that, “The development of a low-carbon aircraft does not require any major technological advance” (translated from French), but that the technology maturation would take five years and then two for suppliers and industrial sites.
In contrast, Elon Musk has said that it will take Tesla two years to bring its new battery technology developments to market. Musk has hinted that he believes that by 2023, battery technology will be energy-dense enough to allow for electric flight, though he did not refer to the short or long haul.
Airbus’ schedule corresponds to the goal of a “carbon neutral plane”, set in early June by the French government, which allocates 15,000 million euros to Airbus and Air France as part of an aerospace rescue plan to shore up the economic crisis caused for the coronavirus. , on the condition that companies accelerate the development of electric and hydrogen aircraft.
With this stipulation, Airbus has prepared three concepts, says Faury.
The first “is a classic configuration aircraft that can hold up to 200 seats with a range of action that covers more than 3,500 kilometers.”
The cylindrical liquid hydrogen tank would be housed inside the fuselage at the rear of the aircraft.
“The second will be a propeller plane, capable of carrying around 100 passengers, for shorter trips,” Faury said.
The third is “more disruptive,” according to reports, Faury said, referring to it as a “flying wing of about 200 seats that allows us to study a completely different configuration for hydrogen storage and propulsion.”
Beyond technical developments, the regulatory framework must necessarily evolve by then to authorize the use of hydrogen in commercial aircraft, Faury says.
“It will also be necessary for the infrastructure at the airports to be ready and for green hydrogen to be available in large quantities,” he says.
If Airbus’ fuel cell aircraft are to be truly zero emissions, they must use “green” hydrogen produced by renewable electricity sources. However, this is currently much more expensive than hydrogen produced using fossil fuels, as well as being less efficient.
“These concepts will help us explore and mature the design and layout of the world’s first zero-emission, climate-neutral airliner, which we intend to put into service by 2035,” Faury said.
“The transition to hydrogen, as the main source of energy for these concept aircraft, will require decisive action from the entire aviation ecosystem.
“Together with the support of the government and industrial partners, we can meet this challenge of increasing renewable energy and hydrogen for the sustainable future of the aviation industry.”
Bridie Schmidt is a lead reporter for The Driven, Renew Economy’s sister site. She specializes in writing about new technologies and has been writing about electric vehicles for two years. She has a keen interest in the role zero emissions transportation should play in sustainability and is a co-organizer of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum.
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