Rolls-Royce and easyJet announce H2ZERO partnership to test hydrogen combustion engines
Low-fare airline easyJet and aerospace manufacturer Rolls-Royce announced a new partnership that will pioneer the development of hydrogen combustion engine technology. This technology will seek to power a range of aircraft, crucially including those in the narrow-body market segments. Both easyJet and Rolls-Royce have committed to working together on ground-based engine tests which will start in later 2022, with a view and ambition to take this technology to the air.
The partnership’s objective is to show that hydrogen has the potential to power narrow-body aircraft from mid-2030 onwards. The current timeline predicted will start with an early concept ground test of the Rolls-Royce AE 2100 engine in the UK in late 2022, followed by a full-scale ground test of a Rolls-Royce Pearl 15 jet engine.
The H2ZERO partnership is inspired the UN-backed Race to Zero campaign – one that has been signed up to by both companies. The agreement announced at Farnborough further emphasises this commitment to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, and aligns closely with a research project that both companies began in 2021 looking at the infrastructure, regulatory requirements and market analysis that would support the use of hydrogen in aviation.
Johan Lundgren, CEO of easyJet, said: “In order to achieve net zero by 2050, we have always said that radical action is needed to address aviation’s climate impact. That’s why today, we are so pleased to announce this partnership with Rolls-Royce. The technology that emerges from this programme has the potential to power easyJet-size aircraft, which is why we will also be making a multi-million pound investment into this programme. In order to achieve decarbonisation at scale, progress on the development of zero emission technology for narrowbody aircraft is crucial. Together with RollsRoyce we look forward to leading the industry to tackle this challenge head-on.”
Grazia Vittadini, Chief Technology and Strategy Officer, Rolls-Royce, said: “H2ZERO is a big step forward for Rolls-Royce and we are excited to be working with a partner that shares a desire to innovate and find new answers to aviation’s biggest challenges. We at Rolls-Royce want to be ready to pioneer sustainability with whatever the future requires, be it hydrogen, electric power, sustainable aviation fuel, or gas turbine efficiency. This agreement further inspires us to move forward.”
The H2ZERO partnership has also been created in response to detailed studies and market research – including the UK Aerospace Technology Institute’s Fly Zero team and Project NAPKIN (New Aviation Propulsion Knowledge and Innovation Network) – which both concluded there is market potential for hydrogen-powered aircraft.