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A hydrogen - galvanising air taxi has completed a phonograph recording - breaking , 523 - mile ( 842 kilometer ) flight over California , producing only water as a direct by - product .
The flying , which was three multiplication further than the space track record set by galvanising vehicles of the same developer , " demonstrates the voltage for H to unlock emission - free , regional journeys , " according to astatementfrom Joby Aviation , the company behind the air taxi prototype . The air hack had 10 % of its hydrogen fuel loading remaining after the flight , meaning it could flee even longer in the future .
Joby Aviation’s hydrogen-electric air taxi recently flew three times further than the company’s battery-electric air taxi.
The flight took place June 24 and is the first ever forward flight of a hydrogen - fuel aircraft capable of upright takeoff and landing ( VTOL ) , harmonize to Joby Aviation . Previoushydrogen - fueled flights used eitherairplane - comparable aircraft requiring a runwayor smaller vehicles , such as Metavista’sunmanned multi - rotor intent . Those hydrogen - fueled airplane flights endure between 10 transactions and3 hours , in the case of a H2FLY design(H2FLY is a Joby Aviation subsidiary ) . Metavista ’s fomite flew for a record 12 hours . It ’s unclear what distance these aircraft covered , but H2FLY say its airplane could one day fly up to 930 sea mile ( 1,500 km ) .
Joby Aviation ’s air taxi is a modified galvanising aircraft with six rotors that can be used in urban configurations . The original battery - operated vehicle completed 25,000 miles ( 40,000 km ) of essay across many escape at the caller ’s base in Marina , California andover New York City . Engineers then converted this barrage - galvanising aircraft into a atomic number 1 - electric one by sum a fuel army tank capable of hive away 88 pounds ( 40 kilograms ) of liquid hydrogen , as well as a hydrogen fuel cellular phone organization , according to the statement .
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Joby Aviation’s hydrogen-electric aircraft is equipped with a fuel tank capable of storing 88 pounds of liquid hydrogen.
The fuel cells commute atomic number 1 into electricity , H2O and heat in the mien of oxygen . The electricity then powers the aircraft ’s rotors , according to the statement , while the water is released as a waste product . The aircraft also carries a decreased number of batteries at all time , providing extra power during takeoff and landing place .
" Imagine being capable to fly from San Francisco to San Diego , Boston to Baltimore , or Nashville to New Orleans without the motivation to go to an airport and with no emissions except water,“JoeBen Bevirt , the founder and CEO of Joby Aviation , state in the statement .
The advantage of the hydrogen - power aim is that it can go much further than the battery - electric one , which needs rechargingevery 100 to 150 miles ( 160 to 240 kilometer ) .
Joby Aviation plans to start selling its original battery - electric design in 2025 . The H - electric aviation taxi will take longer to land to market , but " the vast majority of the excogitation , testing and certification piece of work we ’ve completed on our battery - electric aircraft carries over to commercialize atomic number 1 - galvanizing flying , " Bevirt said .
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Joby Aviation recently became the first developer of electric VTOL aircraft tocomplete the third of five stagesof the Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA ) character corroboration process . During this third leg , the FAA reexamine and approved Joby ’s certification plans for its aircraft ’s structural , mechanical and electric systems . The next degree will affect the FAA looking at the entire aircraft and all its systems .
Joby Aviation plans to roll out the same infrastructure , land pads , operation team and software program for both types of vehicle , according to the statement , making it possible to use them at the same time or transition seamlessly from one to the other .
