Volocopter’s two hundred kilogram capacity transport drone unveiled (full article)

The electric Volodrone will serve in places where traditional forms of transport are limited, according to the company. In May, Volocopter unveiled its second drone for passenger transport, the Voloconnect, which, unlike the previous Volocity, is not only capable of intra-city trips but also of much longer distances of up to hundreds of kilometres, and the company is also offering air taxi services and freight/cargo transport with the Volodrone eVTOL.

The automated aerial vehicle was first tested in the air during a test flight in 2019, but has just been presented to the public for the first time in a few minutes of public demonstration at the ITS World Congress in Hamburg.

During the demonstration, a complete, albeit still very short-distance, transport process was simulated: the goods loaded into the Volodrone’s storage compartment were successfully transported by the device, which climbed to a height of 22 metres, to the cargo bike of DB Schenker, a company that cooperates with Volocopter, where the cargo was transported to its destination by the bike after the box had been reloaded.

The collaboration between the two vehicles has resulted in an all-electric and carbon-free transport solution, according to a DB Schenker statement, which will be an integral part of future logistics infrastructures, extending freight services to locations where traditional solutions may be a barrier. The aircraft can carry 200 kilograms of load over a distance of 40 kilometres and, together with Volocity and Voloconnect, will represent a new solution for urban air transport.

In addition to the development of eVTOLs, Volocopter is also building the network itself, the physical part of which is VoloPorts and the digital backbone is VoloIQ, which the company plans to use to launch its drone services in 2-3 years.

Source: blog.dbschenker.com