HyPoint

HyPoint - a California company, is developing a system of hydrogen fuel cells with zero carbon dioxide emissions for air transport and air taxi. The startup was founded in 2018 by Alexei Ivanenko, Sergey Nefedkin, Sergey Panov and Sergey Shubenkov.

History

2022

Launch of a research center for $15 million in the UK

In mid-February 2022, the California developer of hydrogen fuel cell systems for air transport, HyPoint, founded by Russians, launched a research and production site in the UK. The unit will receive funding of about $15 million and hire a team of up to 100 people.

Located in the Discovery Park Innovation and Research Complex, the unit will accelerate the development of air cooling technology for aviation energy and prepare it to provide carbon-free energy for new generation aircraft, such as electric runways eVTOL, which are preparing to be launched. By 2025, according to the company, it will have up to 100 MW of on-site capacity for emission-free energy production.

HyPoint launched a research center for $15 million

HyPoint technology uses compressed air, both for cooling and for supplying oxygen to fuel systems that more easily and less pollute the environment. The technology has a longer life and provides seven times more flight power than lithium-ion and other chemical batteries. These qualities attract developers of existing, unmanned aerial vehicles and eVTOL to seriously consider hydrogen-cell products as the driving force of their vehicles.

Thanks to a huge pool of technical and scientific talent, a globally recognized ecosystem of hydrogen producers and strong goals for decarbonizing transport, Great Britain has every chance of becoming a world leader in the hydrogen economy. This location will allow us to accelerate the development and supply of our hydrogen fuel cell technology to aviation and aeronautical companies in the UK and around the world. Our work is crucial for accelerating the decarbonization of aviation and urban air mobility, "said Alex Ivanenko, founder and chief executive officer of Hypoint.

Hypoint developed an air cooling system and specialized high-temperature membranes, which allowed to reduce the weight of the platform by 60% compared to competitors. The company claims that the current version of the technology provides a specific power of 2 thousand. W/kg, and as of February 2022, it is already three times superior to the competing options for hydrogen elements. By 2025, according to the company's forecasts, this figure will be increased to 3 thousand. W/kg specific power to meet the requirements of narrow-body aircraft.

In addition to vehicles, Hypoint's hydrogen fuel system is of interest to larger manufacturers. In 2021, the company entered into a partnership with Piasecki Aircraft to develop power supplies for PA-890 helicopters, which are due to appear on the market in 2025. Hypoint also helps ZeroAvia develop a hybrid hydrogen-electric passenger aircraft and advises Airbus.^[1]

Launch site at Discovery Park in the UK

On February 16, 2022, the developer of hydrogen fuel cell systems for air transport and air taxi HyPoint launched a research and production site at Discovery Park in the UK. The HyPoint plans to invest $15 million in the development of the center, and since the launch, the startup has attracted $9.8 million from several investors.

According to Simpleflying, the volume of the hydrogen aviation market by 2030 will be more than $27 billion, and by 2040 it will increase by more than six times. The growth of the market is largely due to the negative impact of ^CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, as well as a reduction in the reserves of traditional fuels. This motivates civil aircraft developers to introduce zero carbon footprint programs. As part of such programs, some manufacturers plan to abandon the use of engines on aviation gasoline and kerosene and replace them with hydrogen-fueled power plants.

The main problem facing manufacturers is limited power and energy storage in hydrogen fuel cells. These factors significantly limit the range of flights and the introduction of hydrogen fuel in civil aviation. In March 2021, the startup HyPoint introduced the current prototype of its turbocharged and air-cooled hydrogen fuel cell system. According to Bloomberg, an air-cooled hydrogen fuel cell turbo system can reach a specific power of up to 2,000 watts per kilogram, which is more than three times the performance of standard hydrogen fuel cell systems. This will allow for longer flights.

At the Discovery Park Research Center, we will continue to refine our solution. We are investing $15 million in the launch, and by 2025 we plan to hire more than 100 employees who will work with more than 100 megawatts of production capacity, "commented Alexey Ivanenko, CEO and co-founder of HyPoint.

2020: Raising $1.1 million, including from the Russian investor club Angelsdeck

December 22, 2020 it became known about the investment of $1.1 million in HyPoint. The Russian investor club Angelsdeck ($350 thousand), as well as the founder and managing partner of the SBNY venture fund Jordan Levy and the 808 Tech Venture Fund 1, invested in this startup. What shares in the developer of hydrogen engines for drones were received by each of the participants in the investment transaction is not specified. It is only known that HyPoint expected to raise $500 thousand, but the total amount was twice as much.

The American startup intends to spend the attracted investments on increasing the development team, developing the center for research and development, as well as increasing production capacities.

The Russian club of venture investors Angelsdeck invested $350 thousand in HyPoint

In mid-2020, HyPoint announced a new turbocharged fuel cell design, which, according to the developers, allows tripling the power and quadrupling the life of a conventional fuel cell, opening up the possibility of creating high-speed long-haul VTOL electric aircraft with a hydrogen engine. The energy density of the new system is three times higher than that of lithium-ion batteries, the company said then.

At the beginning of 2021, it is planned to launch a prototype system, within the framework of which it is planned to test engineering and technological ideas. In the case of successful tests, the construction of a single module of a full-size system will be launched.

The HyPoint is also going to conduct technology testing in conjunction with the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the British University of Swansea.

See also

• Hydrogen transport (cars)
• Hydrogen transport in Russia