First fuel cell plane opens gate to new possibilities

We’ve all heard about fuel cells, the hydrogen powered batteries, that will increase the autonomy of our laptops. Well, fuel cell aren’t limited to just laptops, as this month Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies made a first flight with Hyfishinair, world’s first fuel cell powered plane. We’re not talking about a full size airplane, but a RC plane, one that does 200 km/h.

After the first RC toy fuel cell car, the H-Racer, people at Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies got to work and implemented fuel cell technology into a flying plane, demonstrating that fuel cell could be used in virtually any means of transportation, which really makes it a viable alternative fuel. The first flight took place on April 2th, in Switzerland, and it didn’t resumed just to lift off. Hyfishinair managed a few acrobatic moves and reached around 200 km/h without dropping a sweat.

Noise levels were comparable to current jet planes, but fuel cells are supposed to bring more flight time with the same amount of fuel and less carbon emissions. Horizon declared that they don’t currently plan any manned fuel cell plane, but UAVs will definitely be built using the same technology shown in the video below.

Source: Electro Plankton