jbholtz

It is great to see testing of new technology that has the potential to be practical. Hydrogen has much better energy density than Li-Ion batteries. It remains effective in temp extremes and we know how clean it is. Although on earth it has to be cracked from water, it is the most abundant substance in the universe. Then again, it seems no source of power comes free of charge. Mining for Lithium and Cobalt as well as building batteries and generating electricity comes at a cost.

Thus far, batteries don’t seem to cut it. I know our Arrow can range about 500 miles with reserves on about 500 lbs of fuel. Batteries that permit the same performance would weight far more than the airplane itself. I think H2 has possibilities.

1 reply

davidbunin

Hydrogen doesn’t need to be cracked from oxygen in water molecules, and in fact that’s not where most of our commercial hydrogen comes from. It’s much easier to break the hydrogen atoms away from the carbon atoms in a hydrocarbon molecule. (That molecular bond takes much less energy to break.) Guess where we get our hydrocarbons from?

NewUserName

Would you say a Hydrogen electric system is more or less complex than a conventional piston engine?

A big selling point of electric planes is the reduced complexity and maintenance. This thing sounds like the maintenance is going to require more expensive mechanics and require a lot of time learning dangerous lessons. Is it really worth it? Converting ground vehicles would seem to be the more important priority for reducing carbon anyways.

jbmcnamee

Ignoring the issue of how to produce the hydrogen, the bigger issue is how to store it on an aircraft. The only “practical” method is to store it as a liquid - a high pressure gas tank of that volume would be way too heavy. And, hydrogen is a liquid at around -423 degrees F (-253 C). Just ask Boeing about the challenges of handling liquid hydrogen on their Artemis rocket. Production, storage and handling of cryogenic liquids requires extensive training for employees, far above the level of the typical aircraft line crew. Electric fuel cells sound great until you start figuring out how to feed them in the air.