Does the idea of swapping the Continental in your Bonanza for a hydrogen-electric propulsion set-up interest you?
If so, you might want to take a look at Stralis.
Founded in Australia in 2021, Stralis seeks to decarbonize aviation. To achieve this goal, Stralis is developing hydrogen-electric propulsion (HEP) systems it claims can fly 10 times farther than battery-electric alternatives and operate at 50% lower costs compared to fossil fuel-powered aircraft.
The company is working on a trio of initiatives: Retrofitting a Beech A36 Bonanza and a Beech 1900D while also developing the clean sheet SA-1, a 50-seat twin-motor aircraft.
Stralis currently has two A36 Bonanza airframes. The pair of A36-HEs are affectionally named Bonnie and Clyde. Clyde, the ground-based test bed, ran the HEP system in December 2024 at Brisbane International Airport. The goal for Bonnie is to fly her, HEP-powered, in the third quarter of 2025.
The company is seeking expressions of interest from the Bonanza community.
News today…Waking Up to Harsh Reality: Airbus Abandons Hydrogen Powered Airplanes.
$$ millions wasted on a worthless idea.
CO2 is not a problem, and I’m hoping that the ‘new EPA’ folks will reverse the ‘CO2 endangerment finding’.
Then we can all go back to our usual lives….maybe.?
Here something else to consider, hydro-diesel is 80 percent diesel and 20 percent water. Using a high magnetic field, you can create a charged water. Now you can mix hydro-diesel 20 percent and charged water 80 percent and make one gallon of hydro-diesel into 5 gallons of usable fuel. This will increase the efficiency and the flight miles beyond your imagination. Run the numbers and you will see I’m correct. So, your last question is, how to make the charged water. Simple.
Wow..!! What are you smoking ?
Diesel can be used with propane for very clean running.
Looks like a lot of equipment in the drawing. Payload?
The cost might have been that in 2012, but like all other technologies, the price will come down with development. It might be lower by now if they hadn’t waited so long to take it seriously. Just like anything else, the kinks have to be worked out, and they will be. And this is the fuel the environmentalists have been waiting for – the exhaust is water. And no lead. I am not an expert on it, but I had envisioned hydrogen cars when I was a teenager in the ’70’s. This just seems to have so much potential. But I’m afraid the “Hindenburg fear factor” may be part of the reason why it’s taken so long.
So, how do you propose to produce ‘inexpensive’ hydrogen. ?
Electricity rates in California have got up 400% in the last 16 years.
The physics of producing it doesn’t work.
If the cost has come down, why doesn’t Honda produce the Clarity again ?
Hydrogen will work because it has to work for the oil industry to survive — using its existing business model. “They used to supply fossil fuel, now they supply this great green fuel (hydrogen). But the business model stays the same, and customers also may like it. They’ve been doing this for the past 60 years, and it works for them. Governments like hydrogen because they don’t have to worry about road pricing because they can just add a tax to the pump and collect revenue that way, like they do with fossil fuel. There’s a real logic for the legacy industry to want this to work, which is why there is a continual fight for survival for some of them.”
And consider this: The internal combustion engine can only survive with hydrogen because it can burn inside the engine cylinders like gasoline. Nor is this a small matter.
“More than 600,000 jobs in Germany alone are at risk from the switch from internal combustion engine vehicles to battery cars, according to the German car industry lobby group VDA, largely because electric vehicles have significantly fewer moving parts.” (Financial Times)
Honda discontinued the Clarity in 2012. It cost $50k and the hydrogen fuel cost $0.50 per mile, $200 refuel for 400 miles.
A gas powered car getting 30 mpg and using $4.00 gas, costs $0.13 per mile.
Why would anyone think that using hydrogen to power any transportation would be cost effective ? maybe just the ‘save the planet’ folks.
Glad to see that both aviation and automotive industries are FINALLY working at improving hydrogen technology. Maybe they’re finally realizing that batteries alone just aren’t going to cut it.
Would I buy a non-hybrid EV car or plane, even with more charging stations around the country? NO.
Would I buy a hydrogen hybrid car or plane, once the technology is ready for sales, and the refueling stations could be found at most airports and gas stations? YES.