The concept of creating new hydrogen-electric powertrains is being used on regional aircraft – smaller and with shorter-distance trips .
Saleh said this concept of retrofitting one of the aircraft came from a conversation between him and a former colleague with McKinsey ( global management consulting ,) about retrofitting aircraft to reduce carbon emissions . He said that when he approached ZeroAvia about retrofitting a 76-seat aircraft , they said , “ No way , are you crazy ? It ’ s too big ; too heavy ; we are looking at a 19-seater .” He said he kept pestering them , and one day , they continued the discussion , leading them from “ no way ” to “ yes , this seems possible .” He said that in a short time , the technology evolved to where it was feasible .
“ It wasn ’ t scientifically possible a couple of years ago ,” Saleh added . But now it is in process .
Dr . Val Miftakhov , founder and CEO of ZeroAvia , is a long-term sustainability entrepreneur . He had worked with McKinsey , and at Google . He has since founded other companies in bioinformatics and smart electric vehicle ( EV ) charging . Now with ZeroAvia , he is working to bring the “ world ’ s first zero emission aviation powertrain to market .” ( www . linkedin . com / in / vmiftakhov /). Miftakhov spent his educational years in physics , earning a Ph . D . in Physics from Princeton University .
Miftakhov started his last business as the world ’ s largest network of smart EV charging stations .
They developed innovative hardware and software for EVs . After six years of running that business , he moved toward sustainable aviation . He said it was a natural fit . He founded ZeroAvia , focusing on large commercial aircraft due to their climate impact . “ It is a 1.5 trillion market ,” he said . They started by understanding what the technology would be to create change . They determined that it would be electronic fuel cells . Allied Market Research said the sustainable fuels market was valued at $ 72.1 million in 2020 . ( www . alliedmarketresearch . com / sustainable-aviation-fuel-market-A13064 ).
ZeroAvia has ten people on its management team .
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