VoloDrone, heavy-lift utility multirotor, Volocopter GmbH, Karlsruhe, Germany

Volocopter, the pioneer in Urban Air Mobility, presented the demonstrator of its VoloDrone. This marks Volocopters expansion into the logistics, agriculture, infrastructure and public services industry. The VoloDrone is an unmanned, fully electric, heavy-lift utility drone capable of carrying a payload of 200 kg (440 lbs) up to 40 km (25 miles). With a standardized payload attachment, VoloDrone can serve a great variety of purposes from transporting boxes, to liquids, to equipment and beyond. It can be remotely piloted or flown in automated mode on pre-set routes.

The VoloDrone has been engineered to serve challenging missions across industries ranging from agriculture, logistics, and infrastructure to public services, offering time and cost advantages compared to existing solutions.

The first flight of the VoloDrone demonstrator in October 2019 marks the beginning of intensive customer interaction in real-life applications, which provides the basis for the serial product.

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Together with DB Schenker, we conducted a joint static proof of concept (PoC) at Messe Stuttgart for VoloDrone ground operations in logistic centers. This was to create the first blueprint for electric cargo drone ground operations in logistics with Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics' support. The blueprint derived from these results will be the first of its kind for integrating VoloDrone operations in logistics networks across the globe. 

During this experiment, we simulated VoloDrone integration in a logistics network by examining the ground processes for coding goods, assessing safe cargo loads and goods, testing the automated supply of the drone through autonomous vehicles, and identifying other necessary pre-flight cargo checks. And by doing this, we will determine safe, standard procedures for employees on the ground preparing the VoloDrone for flight in logistics networks.

The VoloDrone, Volocopter's heavy-lift and versatile cargo drone, is fully electric, can transport a 200 kg payload up to 40 km, and has 18 rotors and motors powering the electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. This innovative urban air mobility solution for intracity logistics will operate within Volocopter's UAM ecosystem for cities. 

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Together with our partner Volocopter, we successfully conducted the first public #VoloDrone cargo flight at the ITS Hamburg. 3-minutes, 22 meters high, fully electric, and CO2 neutral.

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Volocopter’s electric heavy-lift drone VoloDrone conducted its first public flight on 12. Oktober 2021 at ITS World Congress 2021. Together with the international logistics leader DB Schenker, urban air mobility pioneer Volocopter demonstrated VoloDrone’s seamless integration into the logistics supply chain with an end-to-end cargo transport demonstration. The partners showed their significant progress together since DB Schenker became a strategic investor of Volocopter in early 2020.

The 3-minute test flight took off at 3:02 p.m. at homePORT Hamburg and reached a maximum altitude of 22 meters. For this delivery simulation, the electric heavy-lift utility drone was equipped with a load-box in 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 under the area’s park deck, marking the completion of the entirely electric, multimodal last-mile delivery.

Volocopter is building the world’s first sustainable and scalable urban air mobility business to bring affordable air taxi services to megacities worldwide. Together with international partners in infrastructure, operations, and air traffic management, Volocopter is building the ecosystem necessary to ‘Bring Urban Air Mobility to Life’. With the VoloCity, we are pioneering the first fully electric “eVTOL” aircraft in certification to enhance urban mobility around the globe.

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Get ready for a new chapter in logistics with our fully electric VoloDrone. Watch the video to find out how we plan to make operations more stable, efficient, and sustainable, in collaboration with our partner, top global logistics supplier DB Schenker.

Find out more about our partnership with DB Schenker by reading our latest blog post!

Volocopter is building the world’s first sustainable and scalable urban air mobility business to bring affordable air taxi services to megacities worldwide. Together with international partners in infrastructure, operations, and air traffic management, Volocopter is building the ecosystem necessary to ‘Bring Urban Air Mobility to Life’. With the VoloCity, we are pioneering the first fully electric “eVTOL” aircraft in certification to enhance urban mobility around the globe.

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The VoloDrone is our uncrewed, fully electric utility drone capable of carrying an impressive – and unprecedented – payload. While there are many design overlaps with the VoloCity, we created the VoloDrone to offer heavy-lift services to a slew of industries, and it will be deployed where classic transportation modes reach their limits.

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Volocopter’s electric heavy-lift drone – aptly named the VoloDrone – is something we plan to seamlessly integrate into the logistics supply chain for all manner of cargo deliveries. How will we do this? In collaboration with international logistics leader DB Schenker, of course. Logistics heavyweight DB Schenker became one of Volocopter’s strategic investors back in early 2020, and the partnership has been going from strength to strength ever since.

Following a successful 3-minute delivery drone test flight on 12 October 2021 (searchable under “VoloDrone: Relive Its First PUblic Flight | Volocopter” for your viewing pleasure) at ITS World Congress held in Hamburg, Germany, the partnership has evolved even further.

*How will it work?* In short, the commercial VoloDrone is poised to convey its payload to a DB Schenker Cargo Bike, next to which it will effect a safe and smooth landing. Once the payload is transferred to the Cargo Bike, it will continue on to its final destination, marking the completion of the fully electric, multimodal last-mile delivery.

So, whether you’re looking for someone to make good on cargo deliveries for your shopping in Hamburg or elsewhere, you can be pretty sure that this feat of innovative design, aka the VoloDrone, will make it into your future.

Stay tuned for more exciting developments from Volocopter, the pioneer of UAM, and its VoloDrone team.

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