The strength of the most common element in the world
In 2020, Airbus unveiled some seriously cool stuff – four aircraft concepts powered by hydrogen. Three of them played it hybrid with hydrogen combustion engines, but the fourth? It went all-in, fully electric, rocking hydrogen fuel cells and a propeller system. The magic? Those fuel cells turn hydrogen into electricity, and guess what? The only by-product is good old H2O, making emissions almost disappear.
Now, the big deal was the potential of these hydrogen fuel cells to clean up aviation. But hold up, there was a challenge. When Airbus kicked off the project, the existing hydrogen fuel cells couldn’t quite keep up. So, in October 2020, Airbus teamed up with ElringKlinger and birthed Aerostack – a superhero joint venture. Their mission? To create hydrogen fuel cell stacks for the heart of the electric engine in the ZEROe aircraft.
The real action went down in Ottobrunn, Germany, just a stone’s throw from Munich, at the E-Aircraft System House. Picture this – the largest test house in Europe for alternative propulsion systems and fuels. It’s where Airbus put the pedal to the metal, testing the main components of the propulsion system that would power the propellers on the ZEROe demonstrator.
Fast forward to June 2023, and Airbus dropped the mic – they aced the test campaign for the hydrogen fuel cell system, hitting a whopping 1.2 megawatts. That’s like aviation history in the making, the most powerful test ever for large-scale aircraft fuel cells.
Then, the climax at the end of 2023 – the electric motors of the iron pod roared to life for the first time. Mathias Andriamisaina, the Head of Testing and Demonstration, couldn’t hide the excitement. He said, “It was a huge moment for us because the architecture and design principles are the real deal.”
Now, testing isn’t just about powering things up. It’s like watching a symphony of systems during different flight phases – takeoff, where it’s max power vibes, and cruising, where it’s easy, but for a longer spin. Hauke Peer-Luedders, Head of Fuel Cell Propulsion System for ZEROe, spilled the beans on how they figure out what changes are needed to make the tech flight-worthy.
But the party doesn’t stop there. Testing the iron pod will keep the ZEROe team busy all through 2024. After that? It’s all about fine-tuning – making the propulsion system just right in size, weight, and all the other flight specs like dealing with vibrations, humidity, and altitude.
And here’s the grand finale – the fuel cell propulsion system is gearing up for a ride on the ZEROe multimodal flight test platform. It’s no ordinary platform, it’s the OG A380, MSN001. Ground testing will be the warm-up, leading to the main event – flight tests on the A380, the star-studded show scheduled for 2026. Airbus is making strides toward cleaner, greener skies, and we’re all invited to witness it.