Val Miftakhov, ZeroAvia - Episode 52

As you’ll know I feel a fair amount of guilt over the amount of flying I typically do. Not an issue at present, but as we discuss on this episode, despite the present situation, aviation is on a fast-upward trend, and has a huge environmental impact. So it was a pleasure to speak to Val Miftakhov to see just how close we are to electric flight, at least on a regional level. It was also interesting to hear his thoughts on hydrogen in transport generally, and why he feels aviation is the area where it can, and does, work. About Val Miftakhov Val Miftakhov is Founder & CEO of ZeroAvia, a company developing the World's first practical zero emission aviation powertrain. Val is an avid helicopter and airplane pilot, and a serial sustainable transportation entrepreneur - his previous company eMotorWerks has developed the World’s leading platform for EV battery aggregation to provide grid services, and was acquired in 2017. Prior to that, Val held a number of senior business and product positions at Google and McKinsey & Company, and was a nuclear researcher at Stanford Linear Accelerator. Val holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Princeton University, Masters in Physics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, and was a two-time winner of Russian Nationwide Physics competitions. About ZeroAvia ZeroAvia is producing the world’s first practical zero emission aviation powertrain, initially targeting 9-19-passenger airplanes to start replacing dirty jet fuel. Our mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable aviation by giving aircraft customers and airframe manufacturers a zero- emission option that serves the most common airline trips. We do this by designing and producing hydrogen-fueled powertrains for the aviation industry. Currently, we have the largest zero emission aircraft in the world flying today using no fossil fuels. Social links Val Miftakhov on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vmiftakhov/ ZeroAvia Website: https://www.zeroavia.com/ ZeroAvia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/zeroavia/ ZeroAvia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZeroAvia EPISODE LINKS A New Opportunity For Hydrogen is Aviation https://aeronauticsonline.com/a-new-opportunity-for-hydrogen-is-aviation/ ZeroAvia’s Hydrogen-Fueled Powertrain for Zero-Emission Aircraft https://www.azocleantech.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1006 ZeroAvia Announces £2.7m UK Government Grant for the Development of Zero Emission Aviation https://www.intelligent-energy.com/news-and-events/company-news/2019/09/18/zeroavia-announces-27m-uk-government-grant-for-the-development-of-zero-emission-aviation/ Follow us online, write a review (please) or subscribe I'm very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the website, or Twitter. If you do enjoy the podcast, please write a review on iTunes, or your usual podcast platform, and tell your cleantech friends about us. That would be much appreciated. Twitter https://twitter.com/weekincleantech Facebook https://www.facebook.com/thisweekincleantech/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/davidhunt2013/