ZeroAvia receives $4.2 million grant from FAA
Hydrogen-electric propulsion pioneer ZeroAvia has been awarded $2.4 million in US federal funding from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), supporting ZeroAvia’s work to further develop and validate its electric propulsion system for two to five megawatt powertrain applications.
The FAA’s Fuelling Aviation’s Sustainable Transition discretionary grant programme for Low-Emission Aviation Technology (FAST Tech) will support ZeroAvia’s HyperCore stackable motor and silicon-carbide inverters at its Everett, Washington propulsion centre; complementing ongoing research and development projects in the UK.
“ZeroAvia appreciates the agency’s recognition of our ability to conduct this important research and development work on electric propulsion systems,” commented ZeroAvia founder and CEO Val Miftakhov. “This award demonstrates the value of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act in decarbonising aviation and complements the hydrogen-forward provisions in the recent FAA Reauthorization, both of which are strong indications that US leadership shares our vision of a clean future of flight”.
The FAST grants – intended to “accelerate production ad use of sustainable aviation fuels and the development of low-emission aviation technologies to support the US aviation climate goal to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050” – are made possible by the US Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. While the SAF portion of the programme will allocate $224.5 million in grants, the low-emission technology element is providing a further $46.5 million for projects such as ZeroAvia’s. A total of $291 million in FAST Grant Awards will be made to 36 projects spanning 23 states.
