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Universal Hydrogen, a prominent player in the race to pioneer hydrogen-powered flight, has announced its closure after failing to secure additional funding from investors. The California-based company had raised between $80-100 million from notable investors such as American Airlines Ventures, JetBlue Ventures, and Toyota Ventures. In March 2023, Universal Hydrogen achieved a significant milestone by flying a 40-passenger regional airliner, nicknamed Lightning McClean, partially powered by hydrogen fuel cell propulsion. This flight marked the beginning of a two-year flight test campaign, with plans to convert ATR 72 regional aircraft to run on hydrogen and enter commercial service. Despite these advancements, the company informed investors of its closure in a letter to shareholders issued on June 27th. According to The Seattle Times, CEO Mark Cousin revealed that the startup was unable to secure sufficient equity or debt financing to continue operations and could not find an actionable offer for a sale or strategic exit transaction. “We were unable to secure sufficient equity or debt financing to continue operations and similarly were unable to secure an actionable offer for a sale of the business or similar strategic exit transaction,” Cousin said. At the time of its closure, Universal Hydrogen had an order book of approximately 250 aircraft conversions from over 15 customers, representing over $1 billion in conversion backlog and more than $2 billion in fuel services over the first ten years of operation. Founded in 2020, Universal Hydrogen accomplished several notable achievements. In February 2024, it demonstrated its hydrogen feeding infrastructure, the AmpCart H2, designed to address the shortage of charging infrastructure for electric ground support equipment at airports. Additionally, it conducted the "largest ever" liquid hydrogen fuel cell powertrain test, powering its megawatt-class fuel cell powertrain with its proprietary liquid hydrogen module for over 1 hour and 40 minutes. Read the article on our blog. #AvfoilNews #UniversalHydrogen #HydrogenPoweredFlight #SustainableAviation #AmericanAirlinesVentures #JetBlueVentures #ToyotaVentures #LightningMcClean #AviationInnovation #CleanEnergy #HydrogenFuel #AirlineIndustry #Aerospace

There have been significant developments in the hydrogen aviation sector over the past week: 1. Universal Hydrogen shutdown: Universal Hydrogen, a leading hydrogen aircraft startup, announced it is shutting down operations after burning through $100 million in funding[1][3]. The company, which had successfully tested a hydrogen-fueled airplane prototype in 2023, cited an inability to secure sufficient financing or a strategic exit as reasons for the closure[3]. 2. American Airlines' investment in ZeroAvia: In contrast to Universal Hydrogen's closure, American Airlines has made a significant commitment to hydrogen aviation by agreeing to purchase 100 hydrogen-electric engines from ZeroAvia[2][5]. This deal includes an increased investment in ZeroAvia and participation in the company's Series C financing round[5]. 3. Industry volatility: The contrasting fortunes of Universal Hydrogen and ZeroAvia highlight the unpredictability in the hydrogen aviation sector[2]. While some companies are struggling, others are securing major deals and investments. 4. Shift in focus: There appears to be more attention on sustainable aviation fuel (#SAF) compared to hydrogen technology in the aviation industry[2]. This shift may be influencing investor sentiment and funding availability for hydrogen aviation projects. Despite this Hydrogen in Airbus #ZeroE continues alongside SAF. 5. Concerns about future policies: The search results indicate growing fears about the future of sustainable aviation incentive programs, particularly in the US. There is speculation that a potential change in administration could lead to the curtailment or elimination of current federal incentives supporting aviation decarbonisation[4]. These developments underscore both the challenges and opportunities in the hydrogen aviation sector, with some companies facing setbacks while others secure significant investments and partnerships. Citations: [1] https://lnkd.in/ewXXMiGg [2] https://lnkd.in/edcZ38tQ [3] https://lnkd.in/ejfTRXbM [4] https://lnkd.in/eXxs6hD5 [5] https://lnkd.in/eX3vykxi #Hydrogen #SustainableAviatoin

Fantastic summary! Hydrogen is a long game, not a short-term one. SAF will play a big part, especially in there short-term. Both are needed. It is not a hydrogen vs. SAF race. _______________ #aerospace #sustainability #sustainableaviationfuel #aviation #SAF

"HysetCo has secured a financing round of almost €200m ($217m) to accelerate the decarbonisation of urban transport. Hy24 led the financing round and will now join Air Liquide, TotalEnergies, Toyota France and Kouros as a majority shareholder of HysetCo. The financing was also backed by RAISE Impact and Eiffel Investment Group. HysetCo is advancing its mobility as a service (MaaS) offering, allowing customers to have a single, integrated supplier and 'facilitate a system-wide transition to hydrogen'. By 2025, the company expects to deploy a dozen new hydrogen stations to build upon the four it is currently operating in the Paris region." #Hy24partners #Hysetco #GreenHydrogen #HydrogenNow #HydrogenEconomy #H2 #ZeroEmissions #CleanEnergy #EnergyTransition #AndNotOr #unblinkered

ZERO PROGRESS AFTER UNIVERSAL FAIL Hydrogen powertrain developer ZeroAvia has secured fresh investment funds from the world’s biggest carrier, American Airlines, and Japanese industrialist ITOCHU Corporation within weeks of the collapse of rival Universal Hydrogen, which failed to attract urgently-needed additional capital. The stories of ZeroAvia’s and Universal’s respective fortunes and misfortunes reflect two big challenges to aviation’s increasingly-tough ambition to achieve net zero carbon emissions targets by 2050. The first is the deepening scarcity of funds to support new low-or-no carbon aviation technologies, as potential investors become far more selective, throwing into doubt the futures of many more zero emission aircraft, propulsion, and fuel concepts, most of them much smaller and with far lower profiles than Universal Hydrogen. The second, highlighted by ZeroAvia’s rapid progression as the best-backed hydrogen propulsion programme in the aerospace sector, is the urgent need for green hydrogen production and for airports to expedite the introduction of hydrogen storage and fuelling infrastructure if H2 is to progress at scale. #sustainableaviation #hydrogenfuel #zeroavia #universalhydrogen #lackoffunding #netzero2050 #americanairlines #itochu #greenairnews

[Article] PEOPLE I CEO of BTE Inc., Gyu-Jung Shim "When we founded the company three years ago, we knew that while everyone was focusing on research and development and commercialization in hydrogen fuel cells and hydrogen mobility, no companies were interested in hydrogen charging solutions, so we realized that as the hydrogen mobility industry grew, the charging solution sector would definitely develop significantly. We believe that it is the right choice so far, and we are steadily preparing for the solution business, hoping that hydrogen mobility will grow further into forklifts and drones in addition to automobiles. We are prioritizing overseas markets rather than domestic ones." cc ➪ Monthly Hydrogen Economy link ➪ https://lnkd.in/g-R3sVzF #BTE #Hydrogen #HydrogenStartup #Hydrogenrefueller #HydrogenFuelCell

Aviation H2 is developing a patentable method for converting jet engines to carbon-free flight. The Company’s novel technology uses ammonia as the fuel, which provides a key point of difference to other carbon-free aviation companies. Ammonia offers a competitive advantage as there are already established supply chains and it is easier to store than hydrogen. Furthermore, retrofitting is attractive to fleet owners as they will not need to write off valuable assets from their balance sheets. Invest Now 👉 https://lnkd.in/g4Y9ewUP #Investing #Investment #Finance #impactinvestment #IPO #hydrogen #ammonia #CleanTransportation #CleanEnergyForAll #sustainableaviation #cleanaviation #Jets #retrofitting #innovation #netzero #HydrogenAviation #aviation #aviationlife #FutureOfFlight #AviationInnovation #HydrogenFuel #ammoniafuel #GreenAviation #AirTravelSustainability #HydrogenPoweredFlight #renewables #decarbonise #aviationdaily #aviationinvestment #jetinvestment #privatejets

Radia, Inc., a Colorado-based energy startup, is developing the world's largest aircraft in aviation history. The aircraft, dubbed The WindRunner, will be 12 times larger than the Boeing 747. ✈️ The aircraft will have a volume of 272,000 cubic feet (7,702 cubic meters), a length of 356 feet (109 meters), and a wingspan of 261 feet (80 meters). It will also be larger than the Airbus A380 and the Antonov An-225. ✈️ The WindRunner will operate from regional hubs to deliver 300-foot (91-meter)-long blades directly to wind farms. Radia stated the plane could land on runways as short as 6,000 feet (1,829 meters), allowing it to conduct flight operations that large commercial aircraft cannot. ✈️ Radia Founder and CEO Mark Lundstrom said that The WindRunner will create "more wind projects, more green fuel projects, lower energy price, more profits, and more money being invested in the energy transition." ✈️ BloombergNEF estimates that up to $10 trillion will be spent on onshore wind farms until 2050. Although today's turbine blades are generally less than 230 feet (70 meters), Radia aims to deploy blades of up to 341 feet (104 meters). ✈️ Radia has received almost $100 million in funding from various sources, including Good Growth Capital, Caruso Ventures, and Capital Factory. The funding will help Radia expand the potential of onshore wind by removing deployment-related barriers. https://lnkd.in/dqW-g2FC #radia #startup #innovation #future #aerospace #aviation #energy #sustainability #investment #boeing747 #antonovan225 #windenergy #renewables #renewableenergy

𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙖𝙡 𝙃𝙮𝙙𝙧𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙣 𝙂𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙: 𝘼 𝙎𝙚𝙩𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙃𝙮𝙙𝙧𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙣-𝙋𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝘼𝙫𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 In a surprising turn of events, Universal Hydrogen, a leading startup in hydrogen-fuel-cell aviation, announced its liquidation despite previously raising $100 million from significant backers like GE Aerospace, American Airlines, and the venture capital arms of Airbus, JetBlue Ventures, and Toyota Motor Corporation. Last year, the company successfully conducted test flights of a 40-passenger aircraft powered by hydrogen, marking a crucial milestone in efforts to decarbonize air travel. However, Universal Hydrogen struggled to secure the financial backing needed to continue its innovative projects, including retrofitting existing aircraft with hydrogen-fuel-cell systems and creating new logistics for hydrogen fuel delivery. These setbacks underscore the sector's broader challenges, such as insufficient green hydrogen supply and the current limitations of fuel-cell technology for long-distance flights. While the immediate future appears bleak for Universal Hydrogen, pursuing hydrogen as a sustainable aviation fuel remains critical in the fight against climate change. https://lnkd.in/gtGfXdzJ

Universal Hydrogen shuts down. Here's everything you need to know 👇 Universal Hydrogen, the startup that flew a partially hydrogen-powered plane in 2023, has shut down after exhausting its $100M in funding. Despite conducting landmark test flights and preparing for further tests, the company faced challenges securing additional capital due to investor concerns. Attempts to merge with an airline and liquidate its French unit were not enough to prevent the shutdown. Universal Hydrogen faced significant challenges in developing a hydrogen propulsion system, fuel delivery infrastructure, and depending on limited "green hydrogen" supply. While the shutdown is a setback for sustainable aviation, Universal Hydrogen's efforts have laid the groundwork for the future of carbon-free flight. Founder Paul Eremenko hopes their achievements "form the foundation for the future of carbon-free flight," as others continue developing hydrogen-powered planes. The pioneering efforts of Universal Hydrogen have advanced the technology and highlighted the potential and challenges in this emerging field. Here’s the link to entire article 🔽 https://lnkd.in/dk3-fVrD