The German Aerospace Center has generated quite a buzz recently with its announcement of the HY4 jet technology at the International Trade Fair World of Energy Solutions in Stuttgart, Germany last week. It is a unique aircraft capable of flights that have zero environmental footprint. If things proceed according to plan, HY4 will have its maiden flight in the summer of 2016.
HY4 is a pure electric aircraft running on proton exchange membrane fuel cells. This form of energy generation technology has been used in previous space exploration missions and uses hydrogen and oxygen, according to Popular Science. The fuel in this technology guarantees zero emissions because it merely produces water as a byproduct.
The HY4 is being positioned as an "Electric Air Taxi," which would provide an alternative mode of public air transport that link European cities. It is designed to have four seats and is powered by an alectric motor, capable of 80-kilowatt output.
A consortium of companies called H2FLY is behind the development of HY4. It is composed of Hydrogenics, the DLR Institute of Technical Thermodynamics, the University of Ulm, Pipistrel and the airport of Stuttgart.
"With the HY4 we want to bring electric mobility to the air, demonstrating the feasibility of this technology and identify specific fields of application in passenger transport," Prof. Josef Kallo, Electric Fly Coordinator at DLR, said in a Street Insider report.
If successful, the HY4 Air Taxi will not be the first electric aircraft. This title has been claimed by a Cri-cri electric plane that flew from Dover to Calais last July as reported by Gizmag. It would, however, be the first mainstream all-electric air transport available to the public.
