Tsinghua PhD Team Starts a Company to Give Planes a Hydrogen "Heart" | 36Kr Exclusive 清华博士团队创业，这家公司要给飞机做氢能「心脏」｜36氪首发

Summary

Yiqing Power, founded by a team of Tsinghua University PhDs, has completed tens of millions of yuan in angel+ financing, focusing on the research and development of aviation-grade hydrogen power systems. The company's core products are liquid-cooled and air-cooled fuel cells, respectively targeting high-power long-range and low-altitude economy scenarios, forming a complementary layout. The liquid-cooled route has been iterated to 90-110kW, with a target expansion to 300kW; the air-cooled product completed three rounds of iteration within one year and entered the commercial promotion stage. Yiqing Power cooperates with COMAC and several eVTOL OEMs to promote the development of hydrogen-powered aircraft and achieves millions of yuan in revenue in scenarios such as drone inspection. Founder Zhang Kexun believes that with the declining cost of green hydrogen, hydrogen energy will achieve "overtaking on a curve" in China's aviation industry through cost advantages.

Deep Analysis

TL;DR

• Yiqing Power, founded by a team of Tsinghua University PhDs, has completed tens of millions of yuan in angel+ financing, focusing on the research and development of aviation-grade hydrogen power systems.
• The company's core products are liquid-cooled and air-cooled fuel cells, respectively targeting high-power long-range and low-altitude economy scenarios, forming a complementary layout.
• The liquid-cooled route has been iterated to 90-110kW, with a target expansion to 300kW; the air-cooled product completed three rounds of iteration within one year and entered the commercial promotion stage.
• Yiqing Power cooperates with COMAC and several eVTOL OEMs to promote the development of hydrogen-powered aircraft and achieves millions of yuan in revenue in scenarios such as drone inspection.
• Founder Zhang Kexun believes that with the declining cost of green hydrogen, hydrogen energy will achieve "overtaking on a curve" in China's aviation industry through cost advantages.

Why It's Worth Reading

This article reveals important technological breakthroughs and commercialization paths in the field of aviation new energy, offering highly valuable reference for practitioners focused on hydrogen energy, low-altitude economy, and aviation power transformation. It demonstrates how startups balance short-term cash flow and long-term barriers through differentiated technology layouts (liquid-cooled vs. air-cooled) and provides an empirical case for China's late-mover advantage in the field of hydrogen aviation.

Technical Analysis

• Liquid-Cooled Fuel Cell System: As the long-term technical mainline, power has been iterated from 30kW to 90-110kW, with future plans reaching 300kW. It features high environmental adaptability (supporting altitudes up to 10,000 meters and extreme cold conditions) and long life (targeting over ten thousand hours), currently in the productization phase, cooperating with OEMs for airworthiness-oriented development.
• Air-Cooled Fuel Cell System: A strategic extension in 2024, with power <10kW, lower technical difficulty, and fast iteration, specifically designed for low-altitude economy scenarios (such as drone inspection and logistics). Completed three rounds of iteration within one year, verification completed in the second half of 2025, costs comparable to pure electric solutions, and range 3-4 times that of lithium batteries.
• Technical Comparison and Division of Labor: Liquid-cooled anchors the high-end aviation market (such as large aircraft and eVTOL), building long-term barriers; air-cooled focuses on short-cycle commercialization (such as Chengfei High-Altitude Drone continuous flight record of 30 hours), feeding back into liquid-cooled R&D, forming a "short-term supports long-term" model.
• Industry-Academia-Research Foundation: Based on 20 years of fuel cell accumulation at Tsinghua University, jointly launched the first aviation-specific research project with Northwestern Polytechnical University, core team members all have Tsinghua background, incubated by Academician Ouyang Minggao.
• Commercial Progress: Has obtained supplier qualifications from COMAC, cooperates with multiple eVTOL OEMs; air-cooled solution achieved millions of yuan in revenue in the first half of the year, targets tens of millions of yuan in revenue in inspection scenarios by 2026, low-altitude logistics solution pending verification.

Industry Insights

• Hydrogen Aviation Will Become a Mainstream Trend: With rapid decline in green hydrogen costs, fuel economy is superior to traditional kerosene and SAF, especially in high-frequency turnover eVTOL scenarios, with advantages in fast refueling and low-temperature performance, expected to achieve scaled application first in China.
• Differentiated Technology Routes Are Key Strategies: Startups should avoid single-track competition, driving dual wheels of "liquid-cooled + air-cooled" to cover both high-end long-term markets and leverage the low-altitude economy window period for cash flow, accelerating industrial landing.
• China Has Potential for Late-Mover Overtaking: Drawing lessons from the EV experience, although China started later in hydrogen aviation, relying on green hydrogen cost advantages and rapid iteration capabilities, it is expected to achieve market dominance after airworthiness standards are perfected, suggesting practitioners closely monitor policy and industry chain collaboration opportunities.