Q: What is ZeroAvia doing at Paine Field in Everett?
A: ZeroAvia operates a 136,000-square-foot Propulsion Center of Excellence at Paine Field — its first U.S. manufacturing facility — where it builds electric motors and power electronics for hydrogen-electric aircraft engines. The center opened on April 24, 2024, with then-Governor Jay Inslee, Rep. Rick Larsen, and Rep. Suzan DelBene in attendance. It marks its second anniversary today, and the company is targeting hydrogen-electric powertrains capable of 300-mile flights in 10- to 20-seat aircraft by the end of 2026.
Two years ago today, on April 24, 2024, a hydrogen-electric aviation startup named ZeroAvia cut the ribbon on its first U.S. manufacturing facility at Paine Field. The 136,000-square-foot Propulsion Center of Excellence was the largest single bet at the time on the idea that the next generation of regional aircraft wouldn’t burn jet fuel.
Two years later, the building is still here. The bet is still live. And Everett is quietly the most important physical address in North American hydrogen aviation.
For a city defined by Boeing’s twin-aisle wide bodies and the new 737 MAX North Line ramping up across the airfield, ZeroAvia’s anniversary is the story most aerospace coverage forgets to tell. It is the story of what comes after Boeing — not as a replacement, but as the next layer on top of the supply chain Boeing built. And it is happening on the same airfield, two miles from where the 777X is being prepared for its first production flight.
What ZeroAvia actually builds
ZeroAvia’s core technology is a hydrogen-electric powertrain. Hydrogen fuel cells generate electricity. That electricity drives high-output electric motors. The motors spin propellers. Water vapor comes out the back instead of CO₂. The energy density of hydrogen — roughly 100 times that of the best lithium-ion batteries — is what makes the math work for regional aircraft, where battery-only designs run out of range long before they run out of seats.
The Propulsion Center of Excellence at Paine Field is where ZeroAvia builds the electric motors and the power electronics that go inside the powertrain. The facility supports both the company’s own 600kW (ZA600) and 1.8MW-class (ZA2000) propulsion systems and a separate components business that sells motors and inverters to other electric and hybrid aviation programs.
That second piece matters. It means the Everett facility doesn’t depend on ZeroAvia winning the entire hydrogen aviation market by itself. Every electric aircraft program that needs an aviation-grade motor is a potential customer for components built at Paine Field.
Why Paine Field
ZeroAvia chose Paine Field as its U.S. R&D site in January 2022 and broke ground on the manufacturing expansion the following year. The reasons it picked Everett look familiar to anyone who has watched aerospace site selection in Snohomish County:
The supply chain. Snohomish County is home to more than 1,350 aerospace-related business establishments. Composite shops. Precision machining. Test labs. Avionics integrators. Every one of those companies makes ZeroAvia’s job of standing up a new propulsion line easier than it would be in a city without aerospace muscle memory.
The workforce. The same machinists, engineers, and technicians who build Boeing wide bodies can build hydrogen fuel cell stacks and high-output electric motors. The IAM 751 Machinists Institute training pipeline that feeds the 737 North Line is the same pipeline ZeroAvia can recruit from. Aviation-grade manufacturing skills do not have a propulsion bias.
The airport. Paine Field is one of the few general aviation airports in the country with the runway length, the FAA infrastructure, and the operational tempo to support flight testing of new propulsion systems. ZeroAvia conducts ground testing, hot-fire tests, and component validation work directly on the airfield — adjacent to the manufacturing floor, not flown to a distant test site.
The state’s leaning in. The Washington State Department of Commerce supported the original site selection with a state grant, citing aerospace cluster development and decarbonization as joint policy goals. The bipartisan congressional delegation showed up for the ribbon cutting in 2024 — Rep. Larsen, who represents Paine Field, and Rep. DelBene, whose district neighbors it.
What’s actually happening on the ground in 2026
ZeroAvia’s public roadmap targets a 300-mile range hydrogen-electric powertrain in a 10- to 20-seat aircraft by the end of 2026 — the kind of aircraft that today flies short regional routes on twin-turboprops like the Cessna Caravan or Britten-Norman Islander. The next step on the roadmap is a 700-mile-range, 40- to 80-seat powertrain by 2028, the size class served today by the De Havilland Canada Dash 8 and ATR 42/72.
If those targets land on time, the Everett facility will be the manufacturing site for the first commercially certified hydrogen-electric propulsion system in U.S. regional aviation. The launch market is not transcontinental airlines. It is the regional carriers, cargo operators, and corporate fleets that fly short hops where the energy density of hydrogen and the simplicity of an electric motor become competitive with a turbine.
That is a multi-year, certification-gated process. The 2026 timeline is the powertrain target, not a passenger-carrying delivery date. Aircraft integration, supplemental type certification, and operator approval are separate gates that follow. But the manufacturing capability that has to exist before any of that happens is the part being built right now, on the floor of the Everett Propulsion Center of Excellence.
Why this matters for Everett
Two years in, ZeroAvia at Paine Field represents three things Everett’s aerospace economy historically has not had at scale.
A second propulsion technology base. For decades, the propulsion expertise on the airfield has been turbofan-and-turboprop. The hydrogen-electric workforce ZeroAvia is building — power electronics engineers, fuel cell technicians, high-voltage motor specialists — is a parallel skillset that did not exist locally before 2024.
A startup-scale aerospace OEM. Boeing employs roughly 31,000 people in Everett and Snohomish County. ZeroAvia is a fraction of that headcount. But it is one of a small but growing cohort of aerospace startups choosing Paine Field over Mojave or San Diego or Long Beach. Eviation. Joby Aviation’s testing partners. Portal Space Systems in Bothell. Each of those names adds a different cell to the local aerospace lattice.
A bet on what comes next. Hydrogen-electric flight is unproven at commercial scale. The technical risk is real. The certification path is slow. But the industry consensus — including from Airbus, which has a separate hydrogen aircraft program of its own — is that some version of this technology will be in commercial service by the early-to-mid 2030s. Everett is where the U.S. version of that future is being engineered.
What the next year looks like
The end-of-2026 powertrain target is the single biggest near-term milestone on ZeroAvia’s roadmap. Watch for: ground test demonstrations of the integrated 600kW system, FAA engagement on the supplemental type certification path for the launch aircraft platform, and component shipments from Paine Field to the customer airframers integrating ZeroAvia’s powertrain into existing certified airframes.
For locals, the most visible signal will be hiring. ZeroAvia has not published Everett-specific headcount targets, but the company has indicated it intends to grow its U.S. operations meaningfully as the powertrain moves toward production. Job postings for power electronics engineers, manufacturing technicians, and propulsion test engineers — based at Paine Field — will be the leading indicator.
Two years ago today, ZeroAvia opened a building. Two years from today, the question is whether the building has produced a powertrain anyone can fly. Everett’s answer to that question matters more than most cities realize.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is ZeroAvia?
ZeroAvia is a U.S.- and U.K.-based aviation startup developing hydrogen-electric powertrains for regional aircraft. Hydrogen fuel cells generate electricity that drives high-output electric motors, with water vapor as the only emission.
When did ZeroAvia open its Paine Field facility?
The 136,000-square-foot Propulsion Center of Excellence officially opened on April 24, 2024, with then-Washington Governor Jay Inslee, Rep. Rick Larsen, and Rep. Suzan DelBene in attendance.
What does ZeroAvia build at Paine Field?
The facility manufactures electric motors and power electronics for ZeroAvia’s own hydrogen-electric powertrains and for sale as components to other electric and hybrid aviation programs.
How big is ZeroAvia’s powertrain target for 2026?
ZeroAvia is targeting a hydrogen-electric powertrain capable of 300-mile range in 10- to 20-seat regional aircraft by the end of 2026. A larger 700-mile, 40- to 80-seat powertrain is targeted for 2028.
Why did ZeroAvia choose Paine Field?
Snohomish County’s aerospace supply chain (more than 1,350 aerospace establishments), the local skilled workforce, Paine Field’s runway and FAA infrastructure for propulsion testing, and Washington state economic-development support were all cited factors.
How does this fit with Boeing’s Everett operations?
ZeroAvia and Boeing are not direct competitors. ZeroAvia builds hydrogen-electric propulsion for regional aircraft (10–80 seats), while Boeing’s Everett operations focus on commercial wide bodies, the 737 North Line, and the KC-46 tanker. Both depend on the same Snohomish County aerospace workforce and supply chain.
When could a hydrogen-electric aircraft using ZeroAvia powertrains carry passengers?
The end-of-2026 target is the powertrain itself, not passenger service. Aircraft integration, supplemental type certification, and operator approval are separate gates. Industry consensus puts commercial hydrogen-electric service in the early-to-mid 2030s timeframe.
Is ZeroAvia hiring at Paine Field?
The company has indicated it intends to grow U.S. operations as the powertrain moves toward production. Job postings for power electronics engineers, manufacturing technicians, and propulsion test engineers based at Paine Field are the leading indicator of expansion.
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