Airbus has lifted the curtain just a tad and given us a glimpse at the future of commercial aviation. At the Airbus Summit 2025 in Toulouse, the company presented a view of the technology that will create the single-aisle airliner of tomorrow.
Airbus explained that it ran the numbers and found that, while it could build a successful hydrogen airliner, the plane would be successful in the same way that Concorde was successful. In other words, a technological triumph, but a commercial failure.
It’s because hydrogen is a terrible fuel. In theory it could work, but there were so many practical problems with compressing the hydrogen into storage tanks and then keeping it in those storage tanks but the amount of effort you have to go through to make it work completely negates any performance benefits.
It’s true, but so is retooling aviation around hydrogen. This is just a prediction but I think before that ever happens, EITHER we’ll have light batteries that are safer and more effective that Lithium OR we’ll have carbon-neutral ways to produce hydrocarbon fuels that can be used with conventional aircraft.
Hydrogen has struck out on personal electronics and ground transportation. Now it’s angling for aviation where its energy density may matter more. But it hasn’t been losing because of energy density.
also most hydrogen now is not green at all, the production of it uses methane and releases CO2. only a small percent of hydrogen is truly green, and very expensive.
I take from that, that we will only get technological breakthroughs away from oil after we break everything down and rebuild from scratch. Because the economy that allowed setting up fuel infrastructure a century ago, is now a much tighter fit.
Yes, but hydrogen has significantly more flaws than most other options. It’s been around for 50 years, has never been a commercial success, and just inherently kinda sucks.
Electricity has been around that long too though, yet there are no serious electric passenger planes (with a decent range)
It has it’s flaws, but it may have a higher ceiling in terms of usefulness. They say they can make it work, which is more than I hear about electric planes for example.
We should be financially encouraging 0 carbon planes, without controlling how, then let the engineers work what tech to do it with.
Worldwide diesel/kerosene biofuel production is too low. Last time airbus made a demo on 100% biofuel made from algae, they bought the output of a whole year to run a single long haul flight.
There is a reason they say Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and not biofuel. They also need e-fuel / synthetic fuel made from hydrogen in addition to biofuel.
Just like any other hydrogen powered… Anything.
It’s because hydrogen is a terrible fuel. In theory it could work, but there were so many practical problems with compressing the hydrogen into storage tanks and then keeping it in those storage tanks but the amount of effort you have to go through to make it work completely negates any performance benefits.
But its only exhaust is PuRe wATeR!! /s
It still makes me LOL to see people tout this, when battery EVs don’t exhaust anything.
Alas, battery EV passenger jets are a long way off.
They are without significant improvements in battery technology. Lithium Ion simply doesn’t have the energy density to be able to lift its own weight.
There’s also the fact that they are too explosive to conform to flight safety standards.
Well I mean so it is kerosene technically
It’s true, but so is retooling aviation around hydrogen. This is just a prediction but I think before that ever happens, EITHER we’ll have light batteries that are safer and more effective that Lithium OR we’ll have carbon-neutral ways to produce hydrocarbon fuels that can be used with conventional aircraft.
Hydrogen has struck out on personal electronics and ground transportation. Now it’s angling for aviation where its energy density may matter more. But it hasn’t been losing because of energy density.
also most hydrogen now is not green at all, the production of it uses methane and releases CO2. only a small percent of hydrogen is truly green, and very expensive.
I take from that, that we will only get technological breakthroughs away from oil after we break everything down and rebuild from scratch. Because the economy that allowed setting up fuel infrastructure a century ago, is now a much tighter fit.
It’s more that Hydrogen is an inherently shit way of powering a vehicle, and liquid fuels are much easier to store and transport.
Biofuels are a much better option, in my view.
…then there should be regulatory actions to help make them viable
Subsidising an inherently flawed technology isn’t the way to go.
What are the other 0 carbon flight options? They are all flawed.
We can engineer our way through flaws with enough effort though.
Yes, but hydrogen has significantly more flaws than most other options. It’s been around for 50 years, has never been a commercial success, and just inherently kinda sucks.
Electricity has been around that long too though, yet there are no serious electric passenger planes (with a decent range)
It has it’s flaws, but it may have a higher ceiling in terms of usefulness. They say they can make it work, which is more than I hear about electric planes for example.
We should be financially encouraging 0 carbon planes, without controlling how, then let the engineers work what tech to do it with.
You can also run an aircraft on biofuel with little to no modifications, with none of the downsides of hydrogen.
Worldwide diesel/kerosene biofuel production is too low. Last time airbus made a demo on 100% biofuel made from algae, they bought the output of a whole year to run a single long haul flight.
There is a reason they say Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and not biofuel. They also need e-fuel / synthetic fuel made from hydrogen in addition to biofuel.
There is a lot of biofuel being made of other fuel types though, so no reason why production of aviation biofuel can’t ramp up.