It has been arranged that ZeroAvia will collaborate with PowerCell Group, their supplier, with the intention of developing ZeroAvia’s next generation of fuel cell technologies. The interest in developing this technology, is that this version will be suitable for use within the hydrogen aviation sector.

Through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), it has been agreed that ZeroAvia will support the Swedish manufacturer, as they go ahead with their plan to develop higher-temperature fuel cells. The benefits of doing this include the fact that it can lead to a reduction in cooling and humification, ‘simplifying the architecture and improving the amount of power for a given unit of weight.’

It is anticipated that ZeroAvia’s high-temperature PEM (HT-PEM) fuel stacks will help to deliver a ZA2000 powertrain for an aircraft with a forty to eighty seat capacity. Plus, it has been made clear that ZeroAvia has already demonstrated an ‘industry record power density’ of more than 2.5kW/kg at the cell level. Right now, the company currently has plans to reach 3+kW/kg within the foreseeable future.

Right now, ZeroAvia is focused on designing a multi-stack balance-of-plant system with the use of PowerCell’s low-temperature PEM stacks that are applicable to aviation. This would make the company a key supplier to the first 600kW powertrain (ZA600) for aircrafts that hold twenty seats.

Founder and CEO at ZeroAvia, Val Miftakhov, stated that ‘the agreement with PowerCell will deliver change in the industry faster.’

PoweCell’s CEO, Richard Berkling, commented, “We’re confident that the first hydrogen-electric aircraft will be flying commercially in the upcoming years. When that happens, it will have a snowball effect as the environmental and operating cost benefits become clear to airlines and their passengers.

Berkling continued, “For PowerCell, this is a key future market, and we are delighted to be deepening our partnership with the leader in this space to develop solutions to enable more clean flights, removing more emissions.”