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Story 13 March 2020
Public

Stories: HYBRiX is the first hybrid fuel-electric drone flying non-stop for 8 hours

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Joana Moreira

The EIC-funded company Quaternium broke its own World Record of flight endurance with the drone inspired by hybrid cars from the automotive industry.

 

Hybrix took off at 8:52 am in Valencia, and landed at 5:02 pm, performing a stationary flight of 8 hours and 10 minutes of non-stop flight time, almost one hour longer than the previous record. The drone is designed to fly for hours, without downtime for battery charging or swapping.  Thanks to these unique features, HYBRiX can be the ideal aircraft for aerial missions such as Surveillance or First Response.

 

Six years ago, the Spanish start-up Quaternium made a revolutionary breakthrough developing the first hybrid fuel-electric drone ever. In 2015 the company made a disruptive flight of 3 hours and 10 minutes with their multirotor HYBRiX, crushing all previous flight-time records. Since then, the achievements of hybrid drones have not stopped growing. 

 

Today, the world is suffering from recurrent catastrophes caused by climate change. From floods to forest fires, generating huge damages to critical infrastructures, communications systems access and basic services. This is what motivated Quaternium to develop a drone that could have a much longer endurance. With HYBRiX, rescuers and firefighters will be able to identify hot spots and access property damage while searching for survivors.

 

 

“Quaternium is starting Pilot Programs with companies and entities from the USA, Asia and Europe in order to improve our process of research and innovation, with the objective of helping professionals worldwide to provide better service”, announced the CEO  of Quaternium, Alicia Fuentes, in a statement sent to The C-Drone Review. 

 

 

Last year, the company started a first responder pilot program with the local police of Benidorm, featuring the HYBRiX.20 hybrid fuel-electric drone. The Benidorm City Council unanimously adopted a new drone policy, classifying a c-drone as an aircraft and authorizing day or night operations in Visual Meteorological Conditions. 

 

 

“With this first Pilot Program in Benidorm, Quaternium gains deeper knowledge of the different operational scenarios that first responders must face during their workday, so we can set the best configuration of HYBRiX.20 according to customer needs”, the CEO added

 

 

Quaternium has received Phase 1 and Phase 2 grant from the European Innovation Council. With the aim of continue growing in the international market, Quaternium’s HYBRiX long endurance solution is already available worldwide. 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: This information is provided in the interest of knowledge sharing and should not be interpreted as the official view of the European Commission, or any other organisation.

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