ZeroAvia closes investment round led by Airbus & Barclays
ZeroAvia, a company specialising in electric aircraft propulsion, has attracted new investors, including Airbus. The latest round of funding, the amount of which ZeroAvia did not disclose, is led by Airbus, Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital and Neom. Other backers include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Horizons Ventures, Alaska Airlines, Ecosystem Integrity Fund, Summa Equity, AP Ventures and the Amazon Climate Pledge Fund.
In connection with the investment, Airbus and ZeroAvia have also agreed to collaborate on certification approaches for hydrogen propulsion systems. The two companies also intend to cooperate in areas such as liquid hydrogen storage, flight and ground testing of fuel cell propulsion systems and the development of hydrogen refuelling infrastructure.
“ZeroAvia has already been successful in flight testing fuel cell propulsion, and hydrogen storage and distribution systems on board their Do-228 flight test platform which puts them in a strong position to take their technologies to the next phase of development,” said Glen LLewellyn, Airbus Vice President ZEROe Aircraft, adding: “In addition, ZeroAvia is supporting the development of a wider hydrogen ecosystem for aviation – technologies, decarbonised hydrogen supply and certification of hydrogen propulsion systems – which all complement well with our own ambition to bring a ZEROe hydrogen powered aircraft to service by 2035.”
The electric aviation startup is looking at various aspects of emissions-free aviation, from cargo drones to attempting to develop the world’s largest hydrogen-powered aircraft.
ZeroAvia has announced that it plans to use the funding primarily to progress its first product, the small fuel cell aircraft ZA600, through to certification. Furthermore, “the funding will also enable ZeroAvia to continue to progress its larger engine program – the ZA2000, a 2-5.4 MW modular powertrain designed to support larger commercial aircraft applications. The company is working on retrofitting a Dash 8 400 76-seat testbed demonstrator provided by Alaska Airlines, with a view to first flight testing with a full size engine in 2024.”
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