{"id":8865,"date":"2021-11-10T12:22:45","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T12:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/TheNextWeb=1372765"},"modified":"2021-11-10T12:22:45","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T12:22:45","slug":"move-over-batteries-green-hydrogen-is-the-key-to-getting-flying-taxis-off-the-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=8865","title":{"rendered":"Move over, batteries: green hydrogen is the key to getting flying taxis off the ground"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft are rapidly growing from prototypes to commercial vehicles. But while most prioritize electric batteries, there\u2019s a suite of companies developing hydrogen<\/a>-powered VTOLs, including the Skai<\/a> from US company Alaka\u2019i<\/span><\/p>\n

I recently spoke to Brian Morrison, co-founder, president, and CTO, to find out more.<\/p>\n

Why is Skai using hydrogen, not lithium-ion batteries?<\/h2>\n

Firstly, I was curious why hydrogen<\/a> instead of Lithium-ion batteries. Morrison said:<\/p>\n

\u201cLithium-ion batteries scare me.\u201d He recalled the Boeing 787 lithium-ion battery fires in 1987. Boeing had delivered the aircraft to the airline just 18 days prior. In that time, the plane logged 22 flight cycles without incident.<\/p>\n

Another 787 made an emergency landing in Japan after pilots received a battery malfunction warning five days later.<\/p>\n

These two events led the FAA to ground the entire 787 fleet. It was the first time the agency had given such an order for a line of aircraft since 1979.<\/p>\n

As Morrison explained:<\/p>\n

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The more energy you try to draw out of the battery, the hotter it gets. You want to recharge it as quickly as possible. But the more energy you\u2019re trying to put into the battery as quickly as possible, the hotter it gets. At some point, it becomes dangerous, and managing that across hundreds or thousands of battery packs will be a real challenge.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Morrison has an extensive history in aviation, including developing black box recorders. He recalled:<\/p>\n

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I started looking at eVTOLs as a serious possibility in 2012. I did literally hundreds of simulations to convince myself that battery eVTOL was viable. And I wound up convincing myself that it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Every time you double the amount of battery on board, you\u2019re increasing the weight so much that we\u2019re only going to get another two or three or four minutes of flight time.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A lonely approach to aircraft innovation<\/h2>\n

Morrison refocused on hydrogen fuel cells, noting a family history. His dad was a senior program manager on the Apollo program \u2014 the Apollo mission used fuel cells to generate electricity. He filed the first patents in 2013, and he notes:<\/p>\n

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We\u2019re taking a lonely but fundamentally different approach because it\u2019s safer and better for the environment and safer and better for the passengers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

How receptive is the FFA to a hydrogen VTOL like Skai?<\/h2>\n

Morrisonn has a long history of involvement in flight certifications for Boeing and Airbus.
He explained:<\/p>\n

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With previous FAA meetings, you might get three or four FAA representatives to show up. In our first eight or nine meetings with the FAA on this program, we\u2019ve never had less than 25 FAA representatives. They\u2019ve been extraordinarily supportive. It\u2019s a new technology to them, so they\u2019re excited about it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

According to Morrison, the biggest challenge from the FAA standpoint was the uniqueness of the vehicle:<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s not a Part 23 fixed-wing aircraft. It\u2019s not a part 27 rotorcraft, it\u2019s a combination of requirements in-between those two, plus it\u2019s an electric aircraft. Plus, it\u2019s hydrogen fuel cells. So it took almost a year and a half to beat our way through an accumulated list of requirements that everybody could agree on.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

VTOL production is a highly competitive space<\/h2>\n

How does the Skai team stack up to other founders in the space? Morrison said:<\/p>\n

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Early on, Uber was having meetings where they tried to bring the whole eVTOL community together. And in these meetings, there\u2019ll be a roomful of heavily venture-funded people that have never certified an aircraft before.<\/p>\n

They were saying some of the most ridiculous things. \u201cOh, well, we\u2019ll just tell the FAA, this is how it\u2019s gonna be. We don\u2019t need such and such requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

The degree of rigor required surprises them. There\u2019s not just hand waving that says, \u201cYeah, that looks good enough, right, and take off.\u201dLong-distance flight with easy refueling infrastructure<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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<\/i><\/a>The Skai will initially pilot passengers but later fly autonomously.<\/figcaption>