Blending Expertise To Develop Powertrain For Cavorite X7 Vehicle

ZeroAvia and Horizon Aircraft announced they will be working together to develop regional hydrogen-electric VTOL air travel by exploring the integration of ZeroAvia’s ZA600 hydrogne-electric powertrain with Horizon’s Cavorite X7 eVTOL aircraft for regional operations.

The Cavorite X7 features a unique design with14 lift fans within the wing and a forward canard for vertical lift. When the aircraft transitions from hover to horizontal wing-borne flight, sliding panels cover the fans and the aircraft flies like a normal airplane. When landing, the vehicle can use a horizontal runway to land conventionally or deploy the fans to descend and land on a helipad or an area of about the size of a tennis court.

Horizon has performed untethered flight tests of its large-scale prototype that included hover and transition to winged flight. The company has the support of the U.S. Department of Defense as well as approvals for flight test from the Transport Canada Civil Aviation, or TCAA.

In addition to aircraft development, the ZeroAvia-Horizon partnership will explore accelerated research into required infrastructure and certification criteria to establish a zero-emission pathway for Horizon Aircraft.

Val Miftakhov, Founder & CEO of ZeroAvia said, “More and more eVTOL companies are looking to hydrogen-electric propulsion as the breakthrough that can extend range potential and durability of electric propulsion systems. Horizon Aircraft has developed an exciting application and performed successful prototype testing, and they are taking another leadership step in exploring hydrogen as a potential propulsion option for the Cavorite X7.”

Brandon Robinson, CEO and Co-founder of Horizon Aircraft said, "We are a company that continues to focus on what is best for operators of our aircraft. We have been impressed with ZeroAvia's recent flight demonstrations of hydrogen-electric propulsion systems and the company’s traction with regulators. We are thankful for the opportunity to explore hydrogen solutions for the regional air mobility market which could develop into a viable solution to deliver clean, fast, and highly-efficient air travel.”

FMI:  www.horizonaircraft.com/ , zeroavia.com/