Joby Aviation Secretly Bought Hydrogen Startup H2Fly

The website The Air Current has reported:

The German hydrogen aircraft startup H2Fly has a surprise backer: California-based electric vertical take-off and landing developer Joby Aviation. According to German registration filings, Joby acquired sole ownership of the company in April 2021. A Joby spokesperson confirmed the acquisition, which has not been previously reported.

Joby Aviation Founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt just recently talked to Bloomberg's Ed Ludlow at the UP.Summit conference in Arkansas (watch video) about the importance of hydrogen-electric in aircraft transportation for long distances.

JoeBen Bevirt said in the interview:

We have a real urgent problem that we need to solve today, aviation is one of the highest climate impacts-things we do on a daily basis and it is imperative that we reduce that environmental footprint… electric propulsion is the solution. But battery electric only moves you, it is very valuable when you want to move across town, between cities that are close together. When we want to move around the planet, the solution is hydrogen-electric. Hydrogen is three times higher specific energy than jet fuel.

So it sounds like Joby might have more long term goals of not just moving people to and from nearby cities but as well as across the globe.