On the opening day of the Paris Air Show zero-emission aviation business, ZeroAvia announced some further developments on its pathway to hydrogen-electric flight. The technology company will benefit from an injection of funds for expansion and released details around its work with Japan’s MHIRJ on a CRJ 700 retrofit.
Washington’s Paine Field is still growing
Yesterday the US state of Washington announced it would make an additional investment to support ZeroAvia’s expansion at Paine Field, the venerable home of the Boeing Everett factory that produced the 747. This additional funding will go towards improving the research and development facilities that support both the electric propulsion and the Dash 8 testbed retrofit programs that Zero Avia has underway there.
Photo: Alaska Air Group
The Paine Field site is at the heart of ZeroAvia’s electric propulsion system technology development and recently unveiled a program to retrofit a De Havilland Dash 8-400 turboprop with a prototype engine. When that 76-seat Dash 8 enters flight testing it will be the world’s largest hydrogen-electric aircraft.
ZeroAvia is on a well-defined journey to zero-emissions aviation, with plans to have a hydrogen-electric 9-19 seat aircraft with a 300-mile range in the air by 2025 and a 40-80 seat 700-mile range aircraft by 2027. Highlighting why Everett was a prime location for these technologies, CEO and founder Val Miftakhov said:
“With the vast array of talented aerospace engineers, amidst a hub of aerospace industry peers also pushing towards sustainable flight, Everett is a hugely important location for us.
“The support from Governor Inslee and the Washington Department of Commerce enables us to push forward quickly on our targets for commercial flight of up to 20-seat aircraft by 2025 and up to 80-seat aircraft by 2027. We are tremendously excited about the opportunities this opens up to grow our team and establish world-class facilities at Paine Field.”
Is this a green future for CRJ aircraft?
Yesterday ZeroAvia also announced a technical study had confirmed the feasibility of retrofitting CRJ regional aircraft with hydrogen-electric propulsion. The study was conducted with the aircraft’s Type Certificate holder, Japan’s MHIRJ, and identified an initial entry point for a CRJ 700 retrofit with ZeroAvia’s ZA 2000RJ powertrain. ZeroAvia said the study also validated the retrofit approach for other in-service CRJ series aircraft, such as the CRJ500 and 900.
The CRJs will be powered by the ZA 2000RJ, which is a derivative of the engine going on the Dash 8, and the study showed that this powertrain could support up to 60 passengers with a range of 560 nautical miles, covering in excess of 80% of current flights. The study also confirmed specifications around the maximum takeoff weight, center of gravity and structural allowances and identified opportunities for onboard hydrogen fuel storage and powertrain integration to ensure preservation of the aerodynamics.
Photo: United Airlines
Miftakhov said that at this early stage in its work together, the two organizations already see a viable pathway to clean propulsion with CRJ aircraft, adding:
“There is some payload and range compromise, but this technical study confirms a viable propulsion architecture and integration which could be utterly transformational. Before the end of the decade airlines could be flying zero-emission jets.”
Much like widebodies that found a new lease of life as converted freighters ZeroAvia sees a future life for the 1,400 CRJ series aircraft it said could potentially be converted to fly with the ZA 2000 engine. With reduced operating costs from using hydrogen and less maintenance, it believes there will be opportunities for creating new CRJ routes and more flights on existing services.
Do you think we will see a hydrogen-electric CRJ by 2030? Let us know in the comments.
