Stralis Aircraft, the Australian startup developing hydrogen-electric aircraft, today announced it has selected H3X as its electric propulsion unit (EPU) supplier. The company says it has entered into a commercial agreement to develop and certify a 10-kW/kg multi-sector integrated motor drive for the Stralis B1900D-HE and SA-1 aircraft.
“With H3X’s revolutionary motor technology and Stralis’ proprietary hydrogen fuel cell system, the aircraft will fly ten times farther than battery-electric alternatives at a lower operating cost than fossil fuel powered aircraft” according to the press release. “The Beechcraft 1900 retrofit (B1900D-HE) will carry 15 passengers, have a range of 800 km plus reserves, and will be certified with the FAA and CASA via a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC).
“The unit H3X is developing for Stralis will be capable of 1.4 MW at a mass of 135 kg and will have cruise efficiency of 96.8 %. It will have 8 independent winding sets and inverters for fault-tolerant operation without compromise in performance.
“Stralis specifically chose the B1900D aircraft due to the pressurized cabin, 270 knot cruise speed and large internal cabin volume, allowing sufficient onboard green hydrogen storage to meet customer range requirements.”
Over the next 9 months, H3X and Stralis say they will work together to perform ground and flight testing of the HPDM-250 EPU installed on Stralis’ Beechcraft Bonanza flying test bed.
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(Image: Stralis)