ZeroAvia announced that it has signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with PowerCell Group to collaborate on next generation fuel cell technologies. Joint R&D will focus on intermediate and high temperature fuel cells which will open up more energy intensive applications such as large fixed-wing aircraft and rotorcraft.

The two companies have been working together for the last few years, with PowerCell fuel cell stacks forming part of the prototype ZeroAvia powertrains that have powered both of the breakthrough fuel cell flight demonstrators flown by ZeroAvia.

ZeroAvia is designing a bespoke multi-stack balance-of-plant architecture using PowerCell’s low temperature proton exchange membrane (LT-PEM) stacks applicable to aviation applications. As such, the Swedish fuel cell manufacturer is a key supplier for ZeroAvia’s first 600kW powertrain (ZA600) designed for up to 20 seat aircraft.

ZeroAvia’s high temperature PEM fuel cell (HT-PEM) stacks – part of the roadmap to delivery of ZA2000 powertrain for 40-80 seat aircraft and a key part of the company’s component offering to other clean flight innovators – are already demonstrating industry record power density in excess of 2.5 kW/kg at the cell level, with a clear pathway to reaching 3+ kW/kg at the system level in the coming months.

Increasing the operating temperature of fuel cell systems can allow for a reduction in cooling and humidification required, simplifying the architecture and improving the amount of power for a given unit of weight.   

The collaboration will leverage PowerCell’s long experience industrializing hydrogen-electric technologies to push advanced fuel cells solutions to high TRL levels. For ZeroAvia, it will provide the opportunity to exploit its technology in different sectors, while retaining its core focus on aerospace.