Landmark Event: “Joby completes 523-Mile Flight with Hydrogen-Electric Air Taxi Demonstrator”
Joby announced landmark news this week after saying it has recently completed a 523-mile flight, including a vertical take-off and landing, of a hydrogen-electric air taxi demonstrator, reports a press release. This showcases “the potential for a future Joby aircraft powered by liquid hydrogen to enable regional flights with no operating emissions except water,” explains the release.
The flight took place on June 24th in the sky above Joby’s manufacturing and flight test facilities in Marina, California. The aircraft landed with more than 10 percent of its hydrogen fuel load remaining.
The craft was converted into a hydrogen-electric technology demonstrator on May 2nd, after successfully concluding more than 25,000 miles of battery-electric flight, as part of Joby’s ongoing certification program with the FAA.
The release continues, “The hybrid-powered demonstrator uses the same airframe and overall aircraft architecture, including the employment of six electric propulsion units to power each of the aircraft’s tilting propellers, as well as its unified flight control system.”
It goes on, “With the batteries primarily providing extra power for take-off and landing, a different cell was selected to reflect reduced battery energy storage requirements.”
The majority of energy for the flight was provided by liquid hydrogen. With more than three times the specific energy density of gasoline, it is an ideal energy source for weight-sensitive applications like aviation.
On Joby’s designed aircraft, it is stored “in a vacuum-jacketed tank that holds up to 40 kilograms of hydrogen. The hydrogen is kept at around 22 degrees Kelvin (-423 degrees Fahrenheit), with the exterior of the thermally-insulated tank remaining at ambient temperature. During flight, that hydrogen is fed into a fuel cell system to generate electricity.”
Designed and built by Joby’s subsidiary, H2FLY (acquired in 2021), the H2F-175 fuel cell system creates an electrochemical reaction between the hydrogen and oxygen from the air, which directly produces electricity, water and heat. This then powers the six electric motors on the aircraft and recharges its batteries during flight.
Josef Kallo, co-Founder and CEO of H2FLY, commented, “H2FLY is proud to deliver a highly efficient fuel cell system that underlines our expertise in designing and building fuel cell systems for different aircraft applications and supports Joby in demonstrating the potential for emission-free regional flights.”
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(Top image: Joby Aviation)
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