Hydrogen fuel cell specialist HyPoint this week opened a research and development facility in the UK. The California-based start-up is making an initial £11 million ($15 million) in the Discovery Park site at Sandwich in the southeast of England and intends to use it to produce fuel cells for new hydrogen-powered aircraft.
HyPoint expects to employ more than 100 people in Discovery Park by the end of 2025 and to have 100 megawatts of onsite plant capacity, rising to 1 GW by 2028. It plans to increase staffing over the next two years to more than 50 employees at a site that is already used by other high-tech companies, including pharmaceutical group Pfizer. At a media briefing on November 9, the company indicated that its investment in the site could reach $100 million by 2o28, at which point the new facility might employ around 250 people.
Unlike other hydrogen fuel cell systems, Hypoint’s equipment uses compressed air for both cooling and oxygen supplies. According to the company, the fuel cells will deliver up to 2,000 watts per kilogram of specific power, which it says is at least three times the power-to-weight ratio of liquid-cooled systems. Energy density is projected at 1,500 watt-hours per kilogram, which far exceeds that of existing lithium-ion batteries being deployed in eVTOL aircraft.
HyPoint is supplying fuel cells for the hydrogen-electric powertrain being developed by ZeroAvia to convert existing twin turboprop regional airliners. ZeroAvia is also conducting development work in the UK and is preparing to start flight testing a converted 19-seat Dornier Do-228 technology demonstrator, with a view to supporting the launch of commercial flights between London and Rotterdam in 2024.
“ZeroAvia and HyPoint are aligned in our vision to decarbonize the aviation industry and supplant fossil fuel powertrains with zero-emission hydrogen-electric powertrains,” said ZeroAvia founder and CEO Val Miftakhov. “ZeroAvia is doing most of its R&D activity for our 10- to 20-seat engines in the UK, and it’s great to have a leading fuel-cell developer such as HyPoint nearby.”
Under an agreement announced in August 2021, HyPoint is working with rotorcraft and drone developer Piasecki Aircraft Corporation to develop and certify propulsion systems for eVTOL aircraft. The companies will first focus on producing five 650-kW fuel cells for Piasecki’s PA-860 compound helicopter, which it says will be the world’s first hydrogen-powered manned rotorcraft.
According to HyPoint, its technology, which has won awards from NASA, will offer other eVTOL aircraft developers far more energy density than is available from existing lithium-ion batteries and twice the specific power of existing hydrogen fuel systems. Testing so far has shown the HyPoint system to be capable of delivering 2,000 W/kg of specific power, which is more than triple the power-to-weight ratio of traditional liquid-cooled hydrogen fuel cells, and 1,500 Wh/kg of energy density, which the company says is more than seven times that of current batteries.
By 2025, HyPoint aims to be ready to deliver a new fuel cell system that will offer more than 3,000 W/kg of specific power. It says this will be able to support hydrogen-powered narrow-bodied airliners.
“With its massive technical and academic talent pool, a globally recognized ecosystem of hydrogen manufacturers, and strong transport decarbonization targets, the UK is well-positioned to become a global leader in the hydrogen economy,” said HyPoint founder and CEO Alex Ivanenko. “This location will enable us to accelerate the development and delivery of our hydrogen fuel cell technology to aviation and aeronautical companies in the UK and around the world. Our work is critical to unlocking faster decarbonization of aviation and urban air mobility, whilst also creating economic activity and jobs across the country to support the long-term sustainability of the UK’s aviation industry.”
