LuftCar today announced their plans to develop HYDROB, a hydrogen fuel cell - battery hybrid propulsion system for the eVTOL market. HYDROB will serve to give enough vertical thrust to lift vehicles up to 8500 lb. GVW. and cover distances up to 500 miles.
 
LuftCar, partnered with Bosch Aviation and a few other automotive fuel cell companies, will act as a systems integrator in developing the propulsion system. The technology will be developed in an undisclosed location in the United States. The type of fuel cell and the battery chemistry are not revealed at this moment. The fuel cell will have high energy densities and the battery will have high power densities.
 
LuftCar leadership has decades of experience building fuel cell systems and aircraft frames. Santh Sathya, Founder and CEO of LuftCar, who has in a previous career played a critical technical role in building 300 hydrogen fuel cell cars for Ford Motor Company, says that LuftCar is innovating a systems solution to convert automotive fuel cell powertrain into aviation grade system. HYDROB is expected to be light weight and compact and can be packaged in airframes. The propulsion system also can work with liquid or gaseous hydrogen on board.
 
LuftCar plans to develop and sell HYDROB to other advanced air mobility or eVTOL OEMs. HYDROB will create demand for hydrogen and will accelerate the adoption of hydrogen as a major fuel carrier for the growing regional air mobility industry.
 
LuftCar also has proposals to build hydrogen refueling infrastructure to create an ecosystem for LuftCars to operate from city to city. To quote Santh Sathya. “We are delighted that the $7M hydrogen hub grants are official now. As part of our contribution to the hydrogen economy, in addition to building the LuftCars and the HYDROBs, we aim to build hydrogen refueling vertiports called LuftPads as technology demonstrators. These LuftPads will also serve road transport and utility level storage in addition to air mobility.

For more information, please email: info@luftcar.com or call (408) 905 0036
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LuftCar LLC is delighted to announce the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Bosch Aviation in the effort to develop vehicle prototypes. Bosch will develop BoP (balance of Plant) fuel cell components for proof-of-concept, with the aim to support LuftCar commercialization.

The CEO of LuftCar, Santh Sathya says ‘we look forward to leveraging Bosch’s vast expertise in the fuel cell BOP systems and components as we create our proprietary fuel cell powertrain, which will be a game changer in electric aviation. Hopefully, we will be able to forge a long term relationship with Bosch as we build our prototypes’.

The General Manager of Bosch Aviation Technology LLC, Anthony Jager Angelo states that the combination of using fuel cell and electric propulsion resonates with the position of Bosch to support solutions for CO2 neutral means of mobility.

​LuftCar, based out of Orlando FL, is developing a hydrogen powered autonomous air and road eVTOL, which will be most likely commercialized by 2025 – 2026. Bosch Aviation Technology LLC is headquartered in Novi, Michigan.
 

Orlando FL based LuftCar’s CEO Santh Sathya announced yesterday that the company has signed MOUs with two airports in Germany. The names of the airports will not be revealed due to strategic reasons and will be referred to as Airport A and Airport B. 

LuftCar will develop a prototype for the hydrogen powered air and road eVTOL vehicle at Airport A, targeting European market. A production facility to serve European markets could also be located near the vicinity of Airport A. LuftCar has been steadily building a supply chain in Germany.

LuftCar will demonstrate use cases for last mile cargo delivery, regional transportation, hydrogen refueling and cohabitation with commercial airlines in Airport B. The US based startup will also help Airport B demonstrate a regional transportation hub for LuftCar.
 
Santh Sathya released LuftCar’s vertiport concept, which is called LuftPad (TM). Speaking at the Vertical Flight Society’s H2-Aero Symposium at Long Beach CA on March 28th, 2022, Santh stated that ‘LuftPads are vertiports with hydrogen refueling capability for electric aircrafts, which can also support road transportation and utility power. We will leverage existing infrastructure to build LuftPads every 50 miles radius. Our hydrogen powered multi modal vehicle makes it unnecessary to build too many vertiports within the urban environment’.
 
LuftCar is looking forward to enhancing its presence in Germany.

March

• Launched LuftCar on Mar 23, 2021

April

• Selected as CleanTechOpen’21 cohort

June

• Non Provisional IP filed for LuftCar concept

July

• Teaming with FL State EMS for air ambulances and disaster relief
• Support from Director of EMS
• Passive partnership with the Greater Orlando Airport Authority

August

• Attended the Sea Air Space conference in Washington DC, evoked keen interest from US
• Marine Corp and NAVAIR

September

• Fundraising efforts officially kick-started
• Partnering discussions with FAA Center for Emerging Concepts and Innovation
• Passive partnership with the Greater Orlando Airport Authority
• LOI from AdventHealth
• Won CleanTechOpen Regional Finals Award

October

• Premiered concept video in UK Air Taxi Congress - London
• Couple of major corporate venture interested in funding of LuftCar, post seed funding
• Attended AviationWeek Event in Miami and was voted the best winning concept by industry experts
• LOI from the State of Oklahoma, as we are aligned with their hydrogen strategy
• Filed provisional IP

November

• LOI from a major industrial hub in Germany for opening a Europe HQ
• Displayed concept video at the Dubai Air Show; signed MOU with a key fundraising agent and established important relationships.
• Created a top class leadership team in the Middle East region, with extended support for Europe.

December

• Visited Oklahoma and held meetings with OKC and Tulsa chambers of commerce.
• Installments of first investments have come through