PUBLISHER: Allied Market Research | PRODUCT CODE: 1472209
PUBLISHER: Allied Market Research | PRODUCT CODE: 1472209
An unmanned aerial vehicle is one of the advanced systems in the aviation industry, which has gradually gained significant popularity in the military, commercial, and civil applications. Fuel cell UAVs are the UAVs backed by fuel cell power modules.
Moreover, these fuel cell UAVs possess a higher energy-to-mass ratio than the traditional battery systems. These power modules provide over three times more flight endurance to the commercial unmanned aerial vehicles. This allows the maximization of productivity, while minimizing downtime and achieves more in a single drone flight. Recently, hydrogen fuel-cells have emerged as a viable alternative fuel to replace Li-ion batteries in mid to large size drones, and their efficiency in terms of weight/power ratios are increasing rapidly. They offer compelling value for UAVs due to improved reliability over small internal combustion engines, enhancing safe & low maintenance operation.
Government regulations and rules have been imposed by several regulators to control the operations of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) across the globe. Agreements & contracts with law enforcement and military agencies, partnership, product development, and product launch activities are key strategies adopted by market players. For instance, in December 2021, H3 Dynamics launched its hydrogen drone equipped with H3 Dynamics' AEROSTAK hydrogen fuel cell system, developed by Drone Works and with integration support by Nexty Electronics Co. Ltd., in Japan. The new generation hydrogen drone is equipped with a small composite container for high-pressure hydrogen developed by JFE Container Co. Ltd. & H3 Dynamics.
Factors such as rise in demand for improved surveillance, surge in need for higher payload capacity UAVs, and supportive growth through regulatory compliance are expected to drive the growth of the fuel cell UAV market. However, increase in security issues & cyber threat and high cost of fuel cells for UAV solutions restrain the growth of the fuel cell UAV market. On the contrary, technological advancements in military applications and rise in public-private partnerships are projected to offer lucrative growth opportunities for the market players.
In addition to environmental footprint, hydrogen UAVs provide greater flight endurance with many multirotor and able to extend mission times from a typical 30 or 40 minutes to several hours. In addition, it is expected to be refilled rapidly, whereas batteries take many hours to fully recharge. For instance, in February 2021, Northwest UAV (NWUAV) completed a prototype hydrogen fuel cell that has been developed in conjunction with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). The fuel cell has been specifically designed to meet the high power-to-weight ratio and different power requirements of a broad range of unmanned systems.
The fuel cell UAV market is segmented into product type, end use, type, weight, application, and region. By the product type, the market is segregated into hydrogen fuel cell, solid oxide fuel cell, and proton exchange membrane fuel cell. Depending on end use, it is categorized into passenger UAV, cargo UAV, and others. According to type, the market is divided into fixed wing, rotary wing, and hybrid. By weight, it is bifurcated into less than 50Kg and more than 50kg. Depending on application, the market is classified into military & defense, civil & commercial, logistics & transportation, construction & mining, and others. Region-wise, the market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa.
Key players operating in the fuel cell UAV market are AeroVironment Inc., Ballard Power Systems, Boeing, Elbit Systems Ltd., EnergyOR, General Atomics, H3 Dynamics, Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies, Intelligent Energy Limited, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), ISS Aerospace, Jadoo Power Systems, Inc., MMC-UAV, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Textron Inc., Ultra, and ZeroAvia, Inc.
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