The aviation industry is well aware of its carbon footprint, but it’s not an industry where things change quickly. Batteries may be an option for short-range eVTOL use cases, but for anything else, they still weigh too much compared to the amount of energy they can hold. There’s another option, though: hydrogen. That’s what Toulouse, France–based Beyond Aero is betting on, as it looks to bring a hydrogen-powered business jet to market.
The company, which is part of our Battlefield startup competition at Disrupt this week, is currently ground-testing an 85 kW hydrogen-based propulsion system, with flight tests of its single-engine test bed scheduled for later this year. The company plans to launch with a business jet, the Beyond Aero One, with a range of up to 800 nautical miles, a speed of about 310 knots (or just over 356 miles per hour) and seating for up to eight passengers. The vision is significantly broader, though, with plans to launch a commuter jet and potentially even larger planes in the future.
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