Hydrogen-Electric Airplanes: A Disruptive Technological Path to Clean Up the Aviation Sector (Slides)

The aviation sector is at a crossroads, and several international agencies have put forth radical goals for its future. In this webinar, the future opportunities and challenges of hydrogen-electric aviation are presented. Recently, hydrogen fuel has been projected as a key enabler for large-scale electrification in future zero-emission aviation. In order to reduce the space required to store the fuel, liquid storage is the preferred solution. The presentation examines the competitiveness of different hydrogen-electric propulsion systems; although, they are strongly dependent on the particular flight segment. It is shown that the best options are those that sufficiently combine energy efficiency and power density, and maximize possible synergies with the cryogenic cooling properties of the LH2 fuel onboard. The best imaginable way to utilize future air transport in a radical fuel-saving way is to go for fully electric propulsion.