零排放的氫動力飛機將於2030年左右投入商業使用

Zero-emission large passenger aircraft powered by hydrogen will be technically feasible in five years, according to Airbus, but they will not enter service for at least a decade as the price of the fuel needs to come down.

歐洲飛機制造集團空客公司稱，零排放的大型氫動力客機將於五年內掃清技術障礙，但由於氫燃料的價格因素，還需要至少十年才能投入使用。

The prediction comes from Glenn Llewellyn, vice-president of zero-emissions technology at the pan-European plane-maker.

空客公司零排放技術部副總裁格倫·盧埃林做出了這一預測。

He said that while Airbus planned to demonstrate hydrogen-powered aircraft in 2025, "over the next 10 years, hydrogen won't be more economic than the fossil fuel equivalent".

他表示，儘管空客公司計劃於2025年展示氫動力飛機，但是“未來十年內，氫燃料不會比化石燃料更省錢”。

For passengers to be flying genuinely emissions free aboard hydrogen-powered planes - which emit only water and heat - their fuel needs to come from hydrogen produced via renewable sources such as Wind and solar, he added.

他補充道，要讓乘客坐上真正零排放（只排放水和熱）的氫動力飛機，就必須使用以風能和太陽能等可再生能源爲動力生成的氫燃料。

In an interview ahead of the BloombergNEF London Summit, Mr Llewellyn said: "We already see massive increases in the amount of renewable energy being produced across the world. Wind energy production has multiplied by two over the last five years and solar energy production has multiplied by four."

在彭博新能源財經倫敦峯會開幕前接受採訪時，盧埃林稱：“我們已經看到世界各地產出的可再生能源在大量增加。過去五年風能產出量增加了一倍，太陽能產出量增加了三倍。”

A further hurdle is building up the ecosystem that hydrogen aircraft, along with other forms of transport, will need. This ranges from creating the fuel from electrolysis to split water into hydrogen and oxygen powered by renewable energy, to the actual transport of the gas and fuelling systems for it at airports.

還有一個要跨越的障礙，就是建立氫動力飛機和其他交通工具所需的生態系統，包括以可再生能源爲動力將水電解成氫和氧的氫燃料生產，運輸氫燃料的交通工具以及機場的燃料補給系統。

However, Mr Llewellyn predicted that there was enough interest in the sector to make this happen.

但是，盧埃林預測，業內對氫動力飛機的濃厚興趣將助其實現。

He added: "There are a number of independent institutes that have mapped out how hydrogen costs can come down over the next decades. We see a 30pc reduction in renewable hydrogen costs in 2030 compared to where it is today, and a 50pc reduction in renewable hydrogen costs by 2050.

他補充道：“關於未來幾十年如何降低氫燃料成本，許多獨立機構已經做出了規劃。我們預測，到2030年可再生氫燃料的成本將比現在降低30%，到2050年將降低50%。”

"They are exactly the kind of cost figures that are interesting for us, because it makes zero-emission aviation commercially viable in the 2030s."

“這一成本數據對我們很有吸引力，因爲它使得零排放飛機在2030年後具有商業可行性。”

Last month UK-based ZeroAvia conducted the world's first flight of a commercial-grade aircraft powered by a hydrogen fuel cell when it flew a six-seater Piper Malibu plane from Cranfield University's airport.

上個月英國飛機公司ZeroAvia舉行了世界首架氫燃料電池驅動的商用級別飛機的試飛。這架有六個座位的派珀馬里布飛機從克蘭菲爾德大學的機場起飛。

The aircraft did two circuits of the Bedfordshire airfield, reaching 1,000ft and 100 knots, during the eight-minute flight.

在這次時長8分鐘的試飛中，該飛機圍繞貝德福德郡的機場飛了兩圈，飛行高度達到1000英尺（305米），航速達到100節（185公里/小時）。

A few days before, Airbus unveiled a series of design proposals for hydrogen-driven aircraft, including a "blended wing" concept that provides greater storage capacity.

幾天前，空客公司發佈了一系列氫動力飛機的設計方案，包括提供更大存儲容量的“翼身融合”概念。

This design could be key to hydrogen-powered aircraft as the fuel is less energy dense than conventional fuel and so requires more space to match performance of existing aeroplanes.

這一設計對氫動力飛機可能很關鍵，因爲氫燃料的能量密度沒有傳統的航空燃油那麼大，所以要使用更大體積的氫燃料才能匹配現有飛機的性能。