If there is one thing that has more or less stopped drones from really taking off in a big way (apart from the prohibitive cost for the more high end models, of course), it would be the fact that these machines do not have the kind of battery life which would make them be able to fly for long hours at an end before requiring a recharge. Well, things might look as though they are changing for the better with a new kind of drone that is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell.
Intelligent Energy’s fuel cell is said to be able to power a modified drone for up to a couple of hours – which is an eternity compared to current models that are approximately six times shorter when compared against the average flying time with a normal battery.
Not only that, the refuelling process is also extremely speedy, using compressed hydrogen that takes just a few minutes as opposed to a few hours when it comes to juicing up a battery from empty. Intelligent Energy feels that its drones would see action mainly in industry for agriculture and oil and gas mapping, perhaps as a testing ground prior to them being made available in the form of a consumer product. We too, look forward alongside Intelligent Energy to deliver these fuel cells for commercial release some time next year.