VoloDrone heavy-lift cargo drone makes first public flight

Will Waters | 2021-10-13 12:39:46.0

Volocopter and DB Schenker successfully conduct demonstration flight of a full-scale electric heavy-lift VoloDrone, designed to carry pallets weighing up to 200kg over a 40km range

Volocopter and its investment and logistics partner DB Schenker this week successfully conducted the first public demonstration flight of a full-scale heavy-lift electric cargo drone, designed to carry pallets weighing up to 200 kilogrammes over a 40-kilometre range.

The VoloDrone, the first cargo variant created by the urban air mobility (UAM) pioneer Volocopter, conducted its first public flight yesterday at the ITS Hamburg 2021 exhibition, with a 3-minute test flight where it reached a maximum altitude of 22 metres. Volocopter and DB Schenker also demonstrated VoloDrone’s integration into the logistics supply chain with an end-to-end cargo transport demonstration showing their significant progress together since DB Schenker became a strategic investor of Volocopter in early 2020. 

For the delivery simulation, the electric heavy-lift utility drone was equipped with a load-box located between its landing gear. First, the demonstration teams secured a Euro-pallet sized load to the box under the VoloDrone, followed by a smooth take-off. After this, the aircraft brought the payload to a DB Schenker Cargo Bike and landed safely.

Once the payload was transferred successfully, the Cargo Bike delivered its cargo to the final destination, marking the completion of the entirely electric, multimodal last-mile delivery.  

Significant milestone

The demonstration marks a significant milestone in the development of heavy-lift cargo drones. Although there are numerous examples of lightweight cargo drones capable of lifting small packages with payloads of up to 5kg, including some already in active service carrying niche products in remote areas, this is thought to be the first full-scale working demonstration of a heavy-lift cargo drone capable of lifting payloads greater than 20kg.

The first public VoloDrone flight comes soon after Volocopter secured its first large-scale firm orders for its cargo and passenger variants. Volocopter and Aerofugia, a subsidiary of Geely Technology Group, last month announced the finalisation of a joint venture to launch UAM vehicles in China, including an agreement to purchase 150 Volocopters. That JV includes an unspecified number of the VoloDrone cargo variant, Volocopter confirmed to Lloyd’s Loading List.

Regular flight tests

The VoloDrone’s first flight took place in 2019 and since then, regular flight tests have been conducted at various airfields in Germany, with Volocopter subsequently working with DB Schenker to explore and develop its integration into potential real-life logistics scenarios and configurations. The drone itself is 9.15 metres in diameter, 2.15 metres tall, and has a 600-kilogramme maximum take-off weight (MTOW). Future VoloDrone operations will be fully electric with autonomous beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) capabilities, Volocopter said.  

Bringing logistics ‘to the next dimension’

Erik Wirsing, vice president for global innovation at DB Schenker, commented: “With the VoloDrone flight today, we were able to publicly demonstrate our successful collaboration and the impressive progress on DB Schenker’s innovation and sustainability roadmap for cleaner logistics. Volocopter has proven again that they are the ideal partner for DB Schenker’s ambition to rethink global supply chains and bring transport logistics to the next dimension for our customers while saving emissions.” 

The demonstration in Hamburg builds upon the foundations of the static proof of concept (PoC) the partners conducted in July this year in Stuttgart, which laid out a blueprint of how to implement VoloDrone operations in logistics facilities globally. With the first public flight of the VoloDrone in Hamburg, Volocopter and DB Schenker “demonstrated how drone operations can extend the existing logistics infrastructure for land or sea transport to create entirely new supply chains and transport routes”, the companies said.  

Florian Reuter, Volocopter CEO, commented: “This first public VoloDrone flight is a strong sign of Volocopter’s leading position in the UAM industry. We are the only UAM company offering solutions for passengers and goods that are flying fully scaled and publicly around the world.

“Our VoloDrone will make existing logistics processes more robust, efficient, and sustainable. DB Schenker is an invaluable partner in our endeavour to untap the massive potential of our VoloDrone’s logistics use cases.” 

The VoloDrone is an uncrewed, fully electric utility drone designed to carry any of the six International Organization for Standardization (ISO) pallet sizes, weighing up to 200 kilogrammes, over a 40-kilometre range. This electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft “is aimed to serve challenging missions across diverse industries”, Volocopter said, adding: “As one member of Volocopter’s robust UAM aircraft portfolio for transporting passengers and goods in cities, the VoloDrone is positioned to be deployed where conventional transport options reach their limits.”  

Other cargo drone projects

A number of companies have been working on developing heavy-lift cargo drones, although these have yet to see full-scale working models. Both DHL and Hellmann Worldwide Logistics have this year announced partnerships with drone developer Dronamics to develop a same-day middle-mile drone delivery service using Dronamics’ ‘Black Swan’ cargo drone – projected to have a range of up to 2,500km and a cargo capacity of 350kg – although Dronamics is understood to be still working on its first full-scale working aircraft.

Meanwhile, after several years of operation with its ‘Sparrow’ drone, which can carry payloads of 4.5kg up to 30 kilometres, Drone Delivery Canada (DDC) is in the final testing stages of its larger Robin (11.3kg, payloads up to 60 km) and Condor (180kg, up to 200km) models. The company expects this to be completed this year.

The company is also said to be working on a model that will be ten times larger, but for the near term these three types will make up its fleet. Initial customers for the Sparrow include DSV Air & Sea Canada, to deliver various types of small shipments, including healthcare related products, from a DroneSpot at DSV’s warehouse in Milton, Ontario to a DropSpot approximately 4km away for Reckitt Benckiser, the global producer of health, hygiene and home products.

Physical and digital infrastructure

In addition to developing the aircraft, Volocopter is organizing the physical (VoloPorts) and digital (VoloIQ) infrastructure to support these services, which are set to launch in the next 2-3 years. VoloIQ serves as the digital backbone for operations.

Founded in 2011, Volocopter has 400 employees in offices in Bruchsal, Munich, and Singapore. The company has raised a total of €322 million in equity. Volocopter’s investors include Daimler, Geely, DB Schenker, BlackRock, and Intel Capital amongst others. 

In 2011, Volocopter performed the first-ever crewed flight of a purely electric multicopter vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and has since showcased numerous public flights with its full-scale aircraft. The most notable have been the public test flights at Singapore’s Marina Bay in October 2019 and the world’s first autonomous eVTOL flight in Dubai 2017.

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