At Monday’s Airbus Summit 2025 in Toulouse on the sustainability of the aviation sector, the company’s CEO provided several details about the nature of its hydrogen aircraft project. Originally slated to enter service in 2035, the aircraft was postponed with no specific timeline in mind.
This is expected to represent at least a five to ten year delay. The delay enables Airbus to establish whether the project itself is still feasible while allowing time for new technology to develop to facilitate the aircraft’s construction.[…]
The project was initially launched in 2020. The aircraft, named ZEROe, is part of Airbus’ plan to “bring a hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft to market.” The hydrogen fuel cell technology was selected in 2025 as the preferred means for the future plane.
Airbus’ official statement at the time read that it remained “committed to the goal of bringing a commercially viable, hydrogen-powered aircraft to market” but noted that “development a hydrogen ecosystem – including infrastructure, production, distribution and regulatory frameworks – is a huge challenge requiring global collaboration and investment.”
Related: The “colossal fail” label came because it turns out that when [Toronto] city hall made the decision in 2019 to go electric with the purchase of two new ferries — urgently needed partial replacements for the current fleet of four ancient, often-broken boats — they, well, forgot something kind of important.
The Airbus CEO doesn’t comprehend that aircraft for mass transit are to be eradicated in the green future; airports for the elite alone.
Hydrogen has got to be the most stupid idea ever when it comes to fuel for planes and cars.
Its actually worse than batteries.
It is indeed monstrously moronic. Consuming fossil fuels for which a perfectly functional “ecosystem” exists, in order to develop another fuel, which is much more difficult to manage, reeks of inefficiency and elevated costs. Increased efficiency in the use of existing fuel sources would be a far more sensible and achievable goal.
Hydrogen energy is an IQ test.
Only a fool falls for the promise of environmental utopia and forgets to answer the question of where hydrogen comes from.
Indeed. Most of it is made from natural gas, a process which releases CO2. Even if we could make it cheap and easy, its still useless as a fuel. It needs either absurdly high pressures or cryogenic cooling to store enough of it to be useful, and even then, most materials suffer from hydrogen brittelization.
The second rendering in the story looks like the plane is flying over a dystopian hellscape.
Seems appropriate.
At about the 1/2 ways mark of the “related” link, Coun. Paula Fletcher (Ward 14, Toronto-Danforth)…
“After noting that the process to date was largely overseen by people who are no longer at city hall — former mayors and former staffers — Fletcher did say that a plan to shift oversight of the ferry program to a new department this year would help fix things. “We’ve caught it, we’ve fixed it, we’re professionalizing it,” she said. “We know what we’re doing.”
I see that comment now and again, “we know what we’re doing” … the first time I read this was quoted from federal #Librano Minister of Energy Marc Lalonde when referring to the National Energy Program.
I consider “we know what we’re doing” to be “a tell” …
A liberal recognizes they’ve no plan,
that IS progressive.
“… we didn’t have a plan,
what would you call that?” she asked.
A: Tax-payers call it Being a Liberal;
fairies or ferries, you don’t have to work,
just tax us s’more.
Maybe Toronto needs to buy some of these electric ferries: https://www.bairdmaritime.com/passenger/ferry/vessel-review-sinichka-electric-commuter-boats-designed-for-russias-moskva-river
Rode them recently, very cool ride. Also are icebreakers in the winter.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g9iQCbDG_68
I rode electric buses for years in Edmonton. They were well … buses. They might have sounded different but they were just buses. Just about the time everyone wanted to save the world they tore out the 100 year old lines. Ten years later they wasted tens of millions on battery operated buses which haven’t work. Silly ass city aldermen.
The only thing I know is from chemistry class. Hydrogen burns with a distinct pop.
I wonder what Airbus plans to do for fuel tanks? Aluminum does not react well to hydrogen, from what I hear. A welded joint in aluminum is more of a humorous suggestion than a containment where hydrogen is concerned, they’ll leak like a sieve.
Kapow.
Like helium leaks between the rubber molecules in a balloon. Damn tiny molecules.
The byproduct of hydrogen oxidation is water vapor. Water vapor is the primary greenhouse gas. The original Klimate Katastrophic Alarum (and built into the models) was the runaway feedback loop. Increased CO2 would increase temperature which would increase water vapor which would increase temperature and so on until the oceans rose and covered everything, or the oceans boiled away. That point was never very clear.
So, what makes it such a brilliant idea to release a more powerful greenhouse gas (water vapor) at altitude than good ol’ CO2, a weaker, less plentiful greenhouse gas?
Normal hydrocarbon fuels release lots of water vapor as well, thus contrails.
At high altitudes. Remember the B-17 & B-29.
But only faintly visible and short-lasting, other than under unusual circumstances involving extreme cold and/or pressure change.
Other than a huge ramp-up over the last several years where many have become easily-visible and long-lasting, even in extreme cloud-cover and at low light. And mostly in patterns saturating high-density populations whose flight paths don’t correspond to civilian air traffic.
And whose trails, rather than dissipate, instead saturate the sky and turn into a grey soup. And whose trails exhibit double-helix patterns that relatively rapidly lose altitude and appear to do so mostly at the far edges. Almost as though something was being forcefully ejected perpendicular to the flight path repeatedly.
Weird.
Also, birds aren’t real.
If over time people began to be gaslit for not also calling drones “birds”, yet some people refused to do so and pointed out the many myriad differences between birds and drones, then I suppose your response would be the suitable mocking response from the “science crowd” to those belonging to “the deniers”.
Neil Armstrong spelled backwards is Gorts Mr Alien!
Checkmate, ball-earthers!
That’s “Gnorts”.
Yep, Freemason Neil Armstrong. The guy who couldn’t remember whether or not to tell the amazed crowd upon his return from the moon whether or not he could see stars from the moon’s surface.
Thankfully he wasn’t alone. Freemason Buzz Aldrin and Freemason Michael Collins also couldn’t remember.
For this group who recognizes the role of the lying controlled press, to then turn to the arguments of the same controlled press about “space” and other BS is remarkable. It’s like learning not to drink turpentine from the garage, but still open to trying the paint.
As much as you shouldn’t look for facts from the CBC, neither should you turn to the tightly censored and controlled online media sources such as YouTube.
A Mason but true!
It seems the zenith of commercial aviation arrived in the 1970’s with the SST. Since then, commercial air travel reverted back to subsonic. Now it’s on its way back to prop propelled. Hot air balloon travel must be on the next horizon.
Are we making “Oh, the humanity!” jokes yet? Are we doing this?
With G-d as my witness, I thought this green bullshit would fly.
Watt not, waste not.
You can’t fix stupid, and maintain stream medi’s ability to sell bull. Where is this magic Gas coming from and how are you going to store and transport it in quantity? High pressure tanks, remember Apollo 13 and the Hindenberg.