Volocopter's electric heavy-duty drone VoloDrone successfully performed its first public flight today at the ITS World Congress 2021.

The approx. 3-minute test flight started at 15:02 p.m. in homePORT Hamburg and reached a maximum altitude of 22 meters. For the logistics simulation, the electric cargo drone was equipped with a charging box between the landing gear. The ground team initially loaded this with a load the size of a Euro pallet. The drone then got off to a smooth start. Now the aircraft transported the freight to a DB Schenker cargo bike. After the VoloDrone landed safely and successfully handed over, the cargo bike brought its delivery to its final destination.

“This first VoloDrone public flight is a testament to Volocopter's leadership in the UAM industry. We are the only UAM company that develops solutions for passengers and goods and shows them on public flights worldwide, ”says Florian Reuter, CEO of Volocopter. “Our VoloDrone will make existing logistics processes more robust, efficient and sustainable. DB Schenker is a valuable partner in implementing the enormous application potential of our VoloDrone in the field of logistics. "

The VoloDrone is an unmanned, fully electric cargo drone designed for the transport of ISO pallets of all sizes with a weight of up to 200 kilograms over a range of 40 kilometers. The first flight of the VoloDrone took place in 2019. Since then, regular flight tests have been carried out at various airfields in Germany. The drone has a diameter of 9,15 meters, is 2,15 meters high and has a maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of 600 kilograms. In the future, VoloDrone will be operated fully electrically and be able to fly autonomously out of the pilot's range of vision (BVLOS)