DroneUp, the drone delivery company that Walmart is using, says it plans to test new hydrogen fuel cell technology that has the potential to increase a drone’s flight time to two to five hours.
This fuel cell technology has been developed by South Korea’s Doosan Mobility Innovation (DMI), which is also building one of the first-ever open-source, hydrogen-fuel-cell powered motorcycles in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Electric Vehicle Team.
According to DroneUp, the collaboration with DMI has been underway since October 2022 and is focused on testing and optimizing a system suitable for scalable drone operations.
Compared to conventional lithium battery-powered drones, DMI’s hydrogen fuel cell technology yields 3-to-1 energy density characteristics. So, with this tech, a small drone can fly anywhere between two to five hours, depending on factors such as payload weight and weather.
In addition to gauging the increase in flight time in its tests, DroneUp also plans to focus on the environmental sustainability benefits of using hydrogen. The tech should basically reduce carbon emissions to “zero,” with the only by-product created from the battery technology being drops of water.
Virginia Beach-headquartered DroneUp is rapidly scaling its operations in drone delivery, inspection, and commercial real estate verticals. As such, the company deems exploring new technologies “absolutely critical” for moving forward.
“This collaboration is interesting because it addresses two major aspects of commercial drone services, increasing flight time and reducing carbon emissions. We’re really excited to see the results from this as it could be a significant game-changer for the industry,” says John Vernon, CTO of DroneUp.
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