ZeroAvia and Verne Partner to Explore Cryo-Compressed Hydrogen for Airports and Aircraft

January 2024

Denser form of hydrogen storage promises faster refueling and lower costs for hydrogen aviation

 

Hollister, CA & San Francisco, CA, January 16, 2024 — ZeroAvia and Verne today announced that they have signed an MOU to jointly evaluate the opportunities for using cryo-compressed hydrogen (CcH2) on-board aircraft and for conducting CcH2 refueling from gaseous hydrogen (GH2) and liquid hydrogen (LH2) sources.

ZeroAvia is a leader in zero-emission aviation, focused on developing hydrogen-electric engines for all types of aircraft as the most environmentally and economically-friendly solution for the industry’s growing climate change impact. Aviation accounts for ten percent of all U.S. transportation greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and three percent of total U.S. GHG emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Verne is a hydrogen storage and refueling technology startup focused on solutions using cryo-compressed hydrogen for heavy-duty transportation. Cryo-compressed hydrogen stores gaseous hydrogen at cold temperatures, increasing the energy density of the fuel, which could enable a longer range compared to GH2 powered aircraft.

According to analysis by Verne, cryo-compressed hydrogen can achieve 40 percent greater usable hydrogen density than liquid hydrogen and 200 percent greater usable hydrogen density than 350 bar gaseous hydrogen. Additionally, the application of cryo-compressed hydrogen promises to significantly reduce the cost of densification and refueling time, increase dormancy time relative to LH2 systems, and potentially eliminate venting for pressure management.

ZeroAvia and Verne will assess the potential benefits of scaling CcH2 storage and refueling infrastructure at airports across the world, as hydrogen-electric propulsion scales to support larger and larger aircraft. The two companies will also work together to develop a model for initial airport locations in California.


Access the full press release: https://zeroavia.com/zeroavia-and-verne-partner-to-explore-cryo-compressed-hydrogen-for-airports-and-aircraft/


About Verne

Verne is commercializing high-density hydrogen platforms for the heavy-duty transportation industry. Verne’s cryo-compressed hydrogen platform can unlock zero-emission operations in sectors including aviation, trucking, port vehicles and hydrogen distribution. Verne has Letters of Intent for hundreds of Class 8 trucks and is working with multiple of the leading OEMs. Verne is financially supported by Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Caterpillar Venture Capital, and Collaborative Fund. Verne is also supported by Breakthrough Energy Fellows and the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E. For more information, please visit verneh2.com and follow Verne on LinkedIn and X @VerneH2.

Company contact:
David Jaramillo, CTO & Co-Founder; contact@verneh2.com

About ZeroAvia

ZeroAvia is a leader in zero-emission aviation with the mission of delivering a hydrogen-electric engine in every aircraft as the most environmentally and economically friendly solution for addressing the industry’s climate impact. The company is starting with engines to support a 300-mile range in 9–19 seat aircraft by the end of 2025, and up to 700-mile range in 40–80 seat aircraft by 2027. Founded in California and now with thriving teams also in Everett, WA and the United Kingdom, ZeroAvia has secured experimental certificates to test its engines in three separate testbed aircraft with the FAA and CAA and passed significant flight test milestones. The company has signed a number of key engineering partnerships with major aircraft OEMs and has nearly 2,000 pre-orders for engines from a number of the major global airlines, with future revenue potential over $10bn. For more, please visit ZeroAvia.com, follow @ZeroAvia on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Related News

Governor's Press Office

Verne announces new Pennsylvania manufacturing facility with Governor Shapiro

July 2025

Muncy, PA, July 10, 2025 - Governor Shapiro announced the establishment of Verne’s new manufacturing facility in Muncy, PA. Verne will produce storage vessels for efficiently transporting hydrogen and other low-carbon molecules. The project will create 61 new jobs in Lycoming County and establish a domestic supply of critical energy storage infrastructure.

Energy demand is growing rapidly in sectors including data centers, robotics and advanced manufacturing. The nation’s aging electricity grid is struggling to meet the growth in energy demand and is constraining the growth of businesses in these key sectors. Verne has developed energy solutions to flexibly and efficiently deliver power to data centers, construction sites, ports, airports and other critical sectors. Establishing this manufacturing facility will allow Verne to scale up our production and deploy energy solutions that keep these critical industries running.

“After conducting a nationwide search, we determined that North Central Pennsylvania was the perfect place to establish our manufacturing footprint. The proximity to key partners in the region was a crucial factor, as it will allow Verne to leverage their expertise to optimize our supply chain and manufacturing processes,” said Ted McKlveen, Verne Co-founder & CEO. “This facility will accelerate our impact in delivering energy to power critical industries that are currently not being served by our nation’s electricity grid.”

Verne received $1.27 million in support from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: “This investment in Verne is another example of how the Shapiro Administration is diversifying our energy sector while fostering innovation and supporting the Commonwealth’s vital manufacturing industry,” said DCED Secretary Rick Siger. “It also shows what Governor Shapiro’s 10-year Economic Development Strategy is achieving — firmly establishing Pennsylvania’s status as a leader in innovation, economic development, and job creation.”

Verne is thankful for the support of Governor Shapiro, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), and the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce for this development.

Read more: https://dced.pa.gov/newsroom/governor-shapiro-announces-4-5-million-investment-from-energy-storage-innovator-verne-inc-to-build-its-first-manufacturing-facility-in-lycoming-county-creating-61-jobs-and-growing-pennsylvania/

 

About Verne

Verne’s mission is to decarbonize the most challenging sectors of the economy. Verne provides modern and rapidly deployable power solutions to critical sectors including data centers, construction sites, ports, and airports. Verne is supported by Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Breakthrough Energy Fellows, Caterpillar VC, NextEra Energy Resources, United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund, Collaborative Fund, ARPA-E, The U.S. Army, and other leading organizations.

Verne begins offering zero-emission on-site power generation to customers

May 2025

San Francisco, CA, May 30, 2025 — Verne is now offering zero-emission off-grid power to customers. Customers are increasingly seeking quiet, clean on-site power generation in applications including ports, EV charging, construction and data centers. Verne has partnered with a leading equipment rental company that supplies diesel generators to meet customers’ grid-independent power needs and has recently added hydrogen power generators to their equipment fleet. Verne will provide hydrogen fuel and fuel storage to create an integrated hydrogen-to-power solution available to customers nationwide.

In one of Verne’s recent deployments, the company demonstrated the integrated hydrogen-to-power offering in Southern California for customers in construction and EV charging. Verne delivered hydrogen to hydrogen fuel cell generators developed by EODev. The demonstration showcased the ease and efficiency of zero-emission, quiet on-site power generation with hydrogen generators. The combined offering is the lowest cost solution for customers seeking rapid, permit-friendly power.

“Verne was founded to provide reliable energy solutions to the most critical sectors of the economy,” said Ted McKlveen, Co-founder & CEO of Verne. “Working with established equipment rental partners will help us reach customers seeking clean, efficient off-grid power and allow us to accelerate deployment of our solutions in the most critical, most demanding sectors of the economy.”

Customers interested accessing zero-emission on-site power generation can reach out to Verne at contact@verne-power.com.

About Verne

Verne’s mission is to decarbonize the most challenging sectors of the economy. Verne provides zero-emission on-site power to critical sectors including construction, ports, EV fleets and data centers. Verne is supported by Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Breakthrough Energy Fellows, Caterpillar VC, NextEra Energy Resources, United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund, Collaborative Fund, ARPA-E, The U.S. Army, and other leading organizations.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

LLNL and Verne demonstrate highly efficient hydrogen densification pathway with less required energy

March 2025

Livermore, California, March 18, 2025 — Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Verne have demonstrated a novel pathway for creating high-density hydrogen through a research program funded by Department of Energy’s ARPA-E.

The demonstration validated that it is possible to efficiently reach cryo-compressed hydrogen conditions with liquid hydrogen-like density directly from a source of gaseous hydrogen — substantially reducing the energy input required compared to methods that rely on energy-intensive hydrogen liquefaction.

The energy density of hydrogen on a mass basis is extremely high. However, at ambient conditions gaseous hydrogen requires more volume to store an equivalent amount of energy as competing forms of energy storage.

To reduce the storage volume required, densification of hydrogen is typically accomplished using gas compression or liquefaction. This work demonstrated a pathway that uses both compression and cooling at the same time, each to a lesser degree than when used independently.

So far, the hydrogen supply chain has been hindered by a trade-off between compressed gaseous hydrogen — which is cheap to produce, but low in density — and liquid hydrogen— which is high in density, but expensive to densify (via liquefaction). This trade-off has led to expensive distribution costs that have limited the adoption of hydrogen solutions.

This demonstration validates that cryo-compressed hydrogen can break this trade-off by creating high-density hydrogen without requiring the significant energy inputs required of hydrogen liquefaction.

Enabling end-use applications of hydrogen

Annual U.S. power consumption is projected to grow by 800 terrawatt hours by 2030, with data centers and electric vehicles  driving 77 percent of this new demand, according to the Boston Consulting Group. Customers from a variety of sectors are seeking increased electrical power and are not currently being served by the grid.

Hydrogen can be delivered to these sectors and converted to electricity on-site through a fuel cell, engine or turbine. However, the cost of existing hydrogen distribution technologies has limited adoption.

“This demonstration confirms that cryo-compressed hydrogen can break the current trade-off between density and cost,” said Ted McKlveen, co-founder & CEO of Verne. “Providing a low-cost way to reach high densities will bring down the cost of delivering and using hydrogen, opening up a host of applications for hydrogen across some of the most demanding sectors of the economy from construction to ports to warehouses.”

More efficient densification pathway proven 

The novel hydrogen densification pathway that LLNL and Verne demonstrated produces cryo-compressed hydrogen without requiring a phase change, leading to 50 percent energy savings relative to small-scale hydrogen liquefaction.

During the most recent demonstration, conversion of hydrogen to 81 K (-314 degrees Fahrenheit) and 350 bar (one bar is equivalent to atmospheric pressure at sea level) and densities greater than 60 grams per liter were achieved using a catalyst-filled heat exchanger. 

In addition to energy savings, this densification pathway is more modular than hydrogen liquefaction. While hydrogen liquefaction typically requires construction of large, centralized facilities, cryo-compression can be efficiently built at small scale. This means that the hydrogen distribution network can be further optimized, locating densification and distribution hubs closer to the points of use.

 

Read the full press release: https://www.llnl.gov/article/52606/llnl-verne-demonstrate-highly-efficient-hydrogen-densification-pathway-less-required-energy