New Heavy-Lift Drone Unveiled

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With increased payloads and flight ranges, aerial logistics is expected to be one of the initial commercial applications of autonomous aerial vehicles as it has higher efficiencies but lower emissions than the conventional ground transportation. 

A new heavy-lift drone is designed for short-to-medium-haul air logistics – both in cities and rural areas. It could be used by the energy industry to resupply offshore oil rigs autonomously, for logistics in international ports, or for a wide variety of other applications.

The EHang 216L unveiled by EHang can carry a payload of 200kg – about 440 pounds – which EHang says is, as far as they know,  the largest payload for multi-rotor AAVs.

“…the EHang 216L opens up more commercial opportunities for the company in various urban and rural short-to-medium-haul aerial logistics use cases that require frequent and point-to-point flight tasks,” according to the company’s announcement.  

“According to Frost & Sullivan, the urban air mobility (“UAM”) global logistics market could reach US$46 billion by 2023 (an estimated CAGR of 740%),” says the EHang press release. “China is projected to be the largest regional market in the world in 2023, accounting for 45% of the global logistics UAM market.”