DroneUp, a Virginia-based autonomous drone delivery platform and drone services provider, has partnered with Doosan Mobility Innovation (DMI) to test a new hydrogen technology that could extend drone flights and lower carbon emissions to zero.

The focus of the collaboration is to meet the needs for scalable operation.

DroneUp recently announced that it will be teaming up with Doosan Mobility Innovation (DMI) to test new hydrogen technology for drones that could boost drone flight time and lower carbon emissions to zero. Testing and optimizing reliable systems suitable for scalable operational requirements is the main focus of the agreement.

The agreement that DroneUP made with DMI began in October 2022.

DroneUP, LLC, a Virginia-based company, is a leading autonomous drone delivery platform and drone services provider, while DMI is a global leader in designing and developing H2 systems for small uncrewed aerial systems (UAS). Although the companies only recently announced their agreement to test DMI’s new hydrogen technology for drones, initially, they partnered last fall.

According to a recent news release about the announcement, compared to drones powered by lithium batteries, DMI’s hydrogen technology yields 3-to-1 energy density characteristics. The new H2 technology significantly increases the flight time of the drone to 2 – 5 hours, with the length in flight time depending on a variety of factors, such as weather and payload weight.

Beyond boosting flight time, the new H2 technology being tested has environmental sustainability benefits. CO2 emissions are lowered to “zero” and drops of water is the only by-product that is produced from the battery technology.

Testing the hydrogen technology will help both companies offer new advanced options.

Identifying new technologies is critical for advancing DroneUp’s mission to scale up commercial drone operation in verticals that include delivery, inspection, commercial real-estate and so on.

Testing DMI’s hydrogen fuel cell power packs for the purpose of increasing flight time and lowering carbon emissions will be advantageous to both companies. It will help enhance their efforts as well as eventually offering new advanced options for the drone industry as a whole.

The H2 tech could be a game changer.

CTO of DroneUp, John Vernon, said in the news release that “The technology industry evolves incredibly quickly and the drone industry evolves even faster. It is absolutely critical we explore new technology like this and continue testing and validating how it can help us move forward.”

Vernon added that the hydrogen technology testing partnership is “really interesting” due to the fact that it addresses two of commercial drone services’ major aspects, which are increasing drone flight time and lowering carbon emissions.

“We’re really excited to see the results from this as it could be a significant game-changer for the industry.”