Israel-based aircraft developer Urban Aeronautics has announced an agreement with HyPoint to incorporate zero carbon emissions hydrogen power in its CityHawk eVTOL.
The six-seat CityHawk concept is based on Urban Aeronautics’ Fancraft technology, the ducted fan propulsion system that also features in its Cormorant unmanned aerial vehicle, which has performed over 300 flights to date. CityHawk’s rotorless, wingless design offers a compact footprint that Urban Aeronautics touts as enabling a “fly anywhere, land anywhere” door-to-door transportation capability.
As currently designed, CityHawk relies on hybrid propulsion. Under their new agreement, Urban Aeronautics and HyPoint will explore the development of an advanced version powered by HyPoint’s hydrogen fuel cell stack technology.
“We look forward to collaborating with HyPoint on the integration of the next generation of hydrogen fuel cell systems for eVTOL transportation and the urban air mobility market,” stated Rafi Yoeli, CEO of Urban Aeronautics, in a press release. “As a high-power, 100 percent environmentally friendly fuel, hydrogen is key to the future of eVTOL aircraft.”
According to HyPoint, its new turbo air-cooled fuel cells increase the lifespan of hydrogen powertrains from 5,000 to 20,000 hours and take only a few minutes to refuel. Complementing HyPoint’s turbo air-cooled system are its proprietary high temperature proton exchange membrane, lightweight bipolar plate, and catalyst recipe.
“We were very impressed with the next generation of flying vehicles being developed by Urban Aeronautics, as well as its commitment to hydrogen power, and we look forward to working with them on this exciting project,” stated HyPoint founder Alex Ivanenko.
This is the second CityHawk partnership announced in recent months. In March, Urban Aeronautics revealed that it was teaming up with the Singapore-based company Ascent to accelerate commercialization of the aircraft for urban air mobility missions.
The next generation of flying vehicles can use hydrogen to supply ultra-efficient internal combustion engine with reduced emissions and high power density as this described on:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/range-extender-engine-internal-heat-recovery-recover-vtol-giurca/?trackingId=l4s0NuZJvnjJhewKpy1weg%3D%3D