Joby Aviation completes 523-mile hydrogen-electric flight over Monterey County – Santa Cruz Sentinel

MARINA – In June, Joby Aviation successfully completed a 523-mile flight over Marina of its first-of-its-kind hydrogen-electric demonstration aircraft, and in July, California became the first state to officially launch a Hydrogen Hub, both efforts designed to advance the state’s goal of reducing pollution and developing clean energy.

Joby’s test flight is believed to be the first forward flight of a liquid hydrogen-powered VTOL aircraft, using a converted Joby battery-electric prototype aircraft equipped with a liquid hydrogen fuel tank and fuel cell system. The aircraft landed with a 10% hydrogen fuel load and had no in-flight emissions except water.

Last week, the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems (ARCHES) and the U.S. Department of Energy formally announced a landmark $12.6 billion agreement, including up to $1.2 billion from DOE and $11.4 billion in public and private funding, to build and expand clean energy infrastructure across California.

“Air travel is essential to human progress, but we need to find ways to make it cleaner,” Joby Aviation founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt said in a press release. “As our battery-electric air taxi is poised to fundamentally change the way we move through cities, we’re excited to build a technology stack that has the potential to redefine regional travel using hydrogen-electric aircraft.”

The aerospace company has designed and manufactured an electric air taxi that can carry a pilot and four passengers at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour. The vehicle is fast, generates significantly less noise than helicopters and is efficient with zero emissions.

Joby has been operating and developing the Marina manufacturing facility for about seven years, where it has launched production of its aircraft at a pilot production facility, with the first aircraft rolling off the production line in June 2023. The Marina facility is one of three in California, with others in Santa Cruz — where the company is headquartered — and San Carlos. Joby Aviation also has a facility in Munich and selected Dayton, Ohio, last year as the location for its new manufacturing facility.

“The vast majority of the design, testing and certification work we did on our battery-electric aircraft is being transferred to commercializing hydrogen-electric flights,” Bevirt said. “As we go into operations, we also expect to be able to use the same landing pads, the same operations team and Joby’s ElevateOS software that will support commercial operations of our battery-electric aircraft.”

According to the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, California recently led the nation in hydrogen-powered transportation innovation, opening the world’s first all-hydrogen ferry in San Francisco Bay and completing a successful 523-mile hydrogen-electric flight.

“Joby is a shining example of why California continues to be a world leader in clean technology and high-tech manufacturing,” Dee Dee Myers, senior advisor to Gov. Gavin Newsom and director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, said in a news release. “Their pioneering work to decarbonize aviation through the development of battery technology and now hydrogen fuel cell technology is helping to combat climate change and create a clean energy future that improves the lives of all Californians.”

The Joby hydrogen-electric demonstrator is part of the company’s Future Technologies program and is the result of several years of collaboration between a small Joby team and H2FLY, a wholly owned Joby subsidiary based in Stuttgart, Germany. The converted Joby aircraft had previously completed more than 25,000 miles of testing as a battery-electric aircraft at Joby’s facility in Marina.

According to the Department of Energy, the California Hydrogen Hub covers the entire state and will leverage the state’s leadership in clean energy technologies to produce hydrogen exclusively from renewable energy sources and biomass.

Renewable energy sources include solar, wind and ocean energy, and biomass sources include agricultural residues, animal manure and algae.

Last year, California was selected as a national hub. ARCHES is the first of seven Hydrogen Hubs across the country to formally sign an agreement with DOE.

The ARCHES Center will facilitate a network of clean, renewable hydrogen production sites to reduce fossil fuel use across California, with the ultimate goal of decarbonizing public transit, trucking, and port operations by 2 million metric tons per year—roughly the annual emissions of 445,000 gasoline-powered cars. The California Hydrogen Hub is expected to create approximately 220,000 new jobs, including 130,000 in construction and 90,000 permanent jobs.

Originally published: Jul 29, 2024 at 10:55 AM