Joby Aviation has achieved a significant milestone by successfully completing a 523-mile test flight of its hydrogen-electric air taxi at its Marina, California facility. The flight, powered by liquid hydrogen, was conducted on June 24th, 2024, and resulted in water as the only emission. The aircraft landed with over ten percent of its hydrogen fuel remaining, marking a crucial step towards regional flights in the US with zero emissions other than water.
Joby Aviation’s founder and CEO, JoeBen Bevirt, envisions a future where Americans can travel between cities like San Francisco to San Diego, Boston to Baltimore, or Nashville to New Orleans without needing traditional airports. The hydrogen-electric eVTOL (electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing) aircraft produces minimal noise and no emissions apart from water.
For the test, Joby converted a pre-production prototype battery-electric aircraft, equipping it with a liquid hydrogen fuel tank and fuel cell system. The company aims to begin commercial operations by 2025, initially with its battery-electric air taxi, followed by the hydrogen-powered version.
The hydrogen-electric air taxi is equipped with six electric propulsion units that power its tilting propellers and charge the flight control system. While the batteries provide additional power for takeoff and landing, the liquid hydrogen was the primary energy source for the majority of the flight.
As we have explained before in the MACA Carcopter article, liquid hydrogen, which has over three times the energy density of gasoline, is ideal for weight-sensitive applications like aviation (remember we’ve also seen other very interesting projects exploring similar tech, like Hyundai’s Supernal-SA2,V-Space’s V Speeder-X and even ASKA’s ASKA A5).
The Joby Aviation aircraft featured a vacuum-jacketed tank capable of storing up to 40 kilos of hydrogen, designed to maintain the hydrogen at approximately -423 degrees Fahrenheit (-252.78 °C).
During the flight, the H2F-175 fuel cell system, developed by H2FLY (a subsidiary of Joby Aviation), converted hydrogen into electricity by combining it with oxygen from the air, producing water and heat in the process. This electricity powered the aircraft’s motors and recharged its batteries.
Joby Aviation plans to leverage the design, testing, and certification work from its battery-electric aircraft for the hydrogen-electric variant. The company also expects to use the same landing pads, operations team, and ElevateOS software for both types of aircraft, aiming to launch commercial flights in 2025.
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