ZeroAvia chief executive Val Miftakhov
Credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Last year, Val Miftakhov had a problem. The Russian-born entrepreneur was trying to persuade some of the world’s richest people to pump millions of dollars into his electric-hydrogen plane start-up, but travel restrictions blocked his investors from coming to the UK to see it for themselves.
Ever the problem-solver, the 45-year-old hit upon a novel solution. He sent out invitations to a Zoom video call and mounted his smartphone to the windscreen of a six-passenger aeroplane that is powered solely by a hydrogen fuel cell.
Sitting beside Andrew Dixon, a veteran stunt pilot who has worked on several James Bond films, Miftakhov flew the plane above Bedford as curious investors watched the flight live on Zoom.
“We were like ‘Well, you can’t be here, but this is the next best thing. So let’s do that,’” Miftakhov recalls in another video call, this time from San Francisco.
The gamble worked and Miftakhov’s business ZeroAvia raised $21.4m (£15.6m) from investors including a fund backed by Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos’ Climate Pledge Fund and Shell Ventures. The UK Government has also backed the business with $16.3m in funding.
Now, the avid pilot faces a trickier task: Weaning the aviation industry off decades of reliance on fossil fuels.
“I really think that by 2030 we can get a 100-seat airframe up in the air,” he says, something he claims is not possible with rival clean energy technologies. “You can credibly say that and not feel ridiculous like you would do with batteries, for example.”
If successful, former Google employee Miftakhov could reinvent aviation by moving even the largest passenger planes on to hydrogen fuel cells that power electric motors. Optimists believe the switch could trigger a gold rush, with the market for hydrogen aircraft expected to grow to be worth $174bn by 2040, according to some experts.
It could also herald a new era of cheap flights powered by electric motors that are far quieter than current planes. The Government’s hope is that ZeroAvia’s plans for Bedford could place the country at the centre of an emerging global industry in developing clean aviation.
Helping develop commercial electric aviation would represent a curious twist for Miftakhov, who was raised in the oil country of Western Siberia.
“My father was actually in the oil industry,” he says, wearing £900 aviation headphones on the video call. “That was, in retrospect, a little ironic.”
The collapse of the Soviet Union encouraged Miftakhov to move to the US, where he became a physics student in California.
Miftakhov credits Elon Musk with kickstarting the current revolution in electric transport. He recalls seeing Musk speak about his work at Tesla in 2004 before the company released its first cars and he took over as chief executive.
“Initially the whole electrified, sustainable transport thing was inspired by Elon,” Miftakhov says. The executive, who has closely shaved greying hair, is visibly enthusiastic about the sector.
After spending 12 years working for McKinsey and then Google, Miftakhov was ready to tackle the electrification of transport. His first attempt was a company that produced kits to convert petrol cars into electric vehicles. He sold it to Italian energy company Enel in 2017.
“We realised that in automotive, this was not a great idea because every automotive company built their business around the engine,” Miftakhov says.
That experience led Miftakhov to combine his passions for flying and electric transport in ZeroAvia. “Engine makers are separate, aircraft makers are separate. That’s how the market is structured. It works quite a bit better here,” he says.
ZeroAvia was initially headquartered in the US, where its chief executive still lives. Miftakhov flies himself to the office every day in a half-hour helicopter trip. “I think I’m not the only one,” he says of his unusual commute.
But the company knew it needed to find a new home in a country that embraced start-ups and clean energy. “We did an internal project looking at where the environments are better for something like this,” Miftakhov says. “The UK came up on top.”
Val Miftakhov stepping out of ZeroAvia's hydrogen-electric plane
Credit: ZeroAvia
The majority of ZeroAvia employees now work in Cranfield, where the company carried out the world’s first flight of a commercial aircraft powered by a hydrogen fuel cell in September, with Miftakhov one of two pilots on board.
“It was pretty exciting. Part of the excitement is of course you never exactly know what’s going to happen,” Miftakhov recalls with a smile.
That flight was a proud moment for the Government, but Miftakhov says he’s unsure whether the business will continue to test electric planes in the UK as it moves on to tackle larger aircraft including through a partnership with British Airways.
“We don’t know. We’ll see what happens,” he says when asked about the future of ZeroAvia’s UK testing. “The idea is that the R&D is happening in the UK but obviously the market is worldwide.”
Switching planes to using a combination of hydrogen fuel and electric motors would dramatically reduce pollution and make flights cheaper and quieter, Miftakhov says.
“Inside it will be much less noisy,” he says. “Really, it’s tangibly better. And then, of course, you know that’s it’s zero emissions and it doesn’t pollute. That’s got to feel nice.”
It’s still unclear, however, what impact a switch to hydrogen-electric flight will have on the ticket price of trips. “Over time, we think this technology will reduce the price of air travel,” Miftakhov says.
But multiple airlines are considering charging up to 50pc extra for eco-friendly flights, the entrepreneur says, believing that customers will pay for peace of mind. A European Union-commissioned study published last year predicted the same price bump.
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Regardless of the eventual cost of green flights, Miftakhov and the UK have leapt ahead of the pack when it comes to the future of aviation. That has led to acquisition offers which ZeroAvia’s boss has been turning down.
“They’re just not serious about this,” he says. “Technically you get access to more resources and all that, but you also get into a political environment.”
For now, at least, Miftakhov isn’t selling. Instead, his company remains in the UK with Miftakhov able to take to the skies in a pioneering aircraft.
He’s signed up an impressive team of advisors, including former MythBusters presenter Jamie Hyneman and former FlyBe chief executive Christine Ourmières-Widener.
“He’s one of those out-of-the-box technical thinkers,” Miftakhov says of Hyneman, adding that he was introduced to the presenter by one of his employees. “He has a lot of random technical exposure in these crazy projects.”
Even fraud allegations against hydrogen trucking businesses Nikola have failed to seriously dent investor appetite for the technology. After a short seller attack on the company alleged that it simulated a video of its trucks driving along a highway, a claim the business has denied, some people began to express concern.
"I think there is definitely impact at the high level,” Miftakhov says. “People look at it and say ‘Hey, this hydrogen thing. What’s going on?’”
Miftakhov now has the support of some of the world’s most deep-pocketed individuals, close ties to flight operators, and most importantly a working hydrogen-electric plane.
His only immediate concern seems to be a rainstorm gathering overhead in San Francisco that the executive frowns at as it threatens to cause problems with his commute to work.
“We have the momentum already. That’s really the key,” he says.
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