Alaska said Tuesday it will donate one of its retired Q400 turboprops as a development project to ZeroAvia, a U.K-based startup that aims to integrate hydrogen fuel cells with electric motors to power aircraft.
The planned zero-carbon-emitting, hydrogen-fueled electric propulsion system is in the early developmental stage. ZeroAvia’s goal is to deploy it initially on small private planes, eventually working up to 76-seat regional aircraft like the Q400 that flies for Alaska’s Horizon Air subsidiary.
ZeroAvia made its first and only experimental flight so far last September, flying a six-seat Piper in England for eight minutes.
Led by Russian-born Val Miftakhov, formerly of consulting firm McKinsey and Google, the company, which also has a facility in Hollister, Calif., has received U.K. government funding as well as private investment from others including the Amazon Climate Pledge Fund and Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures.