After 12 years developing hydrogen propulsion systems for small unmanned aircraft ( earlier post ), HES Energy Systems is unveiled its plans for Element One, the first regional hydrogen-electric passenger aircraft. Designed as a zero-emissions aircraft, Element One merges HES’ ultra-light hydrogen fuel cell technologies with a distributed electric aircraft propulsion design. With virtually no change to its current drone-scale systems, HES’ distributed system allows for modularity and increased safety through multiple system redundancies. Element One is powered by HES’s Aeropak—a combination of its extremely lightweight fuel cells with high energy density hydrogen energy storage, allowing flight duration extensions by several orders of magnitude compared to lithium batteries. The swappable hydrogen propulsion system scales from single systems for drones to multiple systems in parallel for manned electric flight. Element One is designed to fly 4 passengers for 500 km to 5000 km (311 miles to 3100 miles ) depending […]