Hyderabad, India

The drones that we commonly know of are powered by batteries or conventional fuels and are used for everything from cargo hauling to videography to strategic purposes. In order to add more lifting power and range, Hyderabad-based Indian start-up BluJ hopes to eventually make a fully-autonomous aircraft measuring 6metres in wingspan and 4metres in length, that can carry a 1-ton payload (1000kg) across a distance of 800kms, powered by a Hydrogen fuel cell system.

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Simply put, Hydrogen fuel cells use the chemical energy of hydrogen to produce electricity and the only residue it leaves behind is heat and water.

Established in 2022, the firm initially received grants from the Government of Telangana and the Government of India, and most recently raised $2.25mn in seed funding. The round is led by Endiya Partners and Ideaspring capital with participation from Rainmatter foundation.

Also read | Indian tech start-up creates first passenger drone for the Naval warships

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"Our first commercial product will be a Hydrogen-Electric fully autonomous VTOL aircraft for cargo with a capability of about 100 kgs payload and 400-500kms range. We are currently building a full-scale, battery powered technology demonstrator which would be having the same dimensions as the envisioned hydrogen-fuel cell powered one" Maruthi Amardeep, Co-founder and CEO of BluJ told WION. 

He added that they expect to conduct flight trials of this lithium-ion battery-powered variant by the end of 2023, followed by the flight demonstration of the Hydrogen-powered variant by the end of 2024. Through these, they plan to mature the technologies required to make their future VTOL aircrafts for passengers and cargo that can ferry 1-ton payload across a distance of 800-100kms.

A fleet of winged drones under development

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Queried about the use case of such heavy-payload lifting drones that fly long ranges, Maruthi Amardeep explained that they are meant to reduce travel time for cargo and passengers and to be used in sectors such as oil and gas, mining, logistics. It can also make travel easier and quicker between satellite cities to metropolises, travel from cities to airports and for defence logistics purposes etc. 

Also watch | Tech Talk: India's first passenger drone for naval warships

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"The funding we have received will sustain us for two years, within which we can develop most of the required technologies at the ground level and build one flying prototype that is powered by a fuel cell" Amardeep said.

The drones being designed and developed by BluJ are unlike the conventional drones. BluJ is building a fleet of winged drones. They take off vertically like a helicopter and then use forward propellors for sustained flight.

Making Hydrogen-powered VTOL aircraft: Key challenge

While Hydrogen fuel cell technology is clean, efficient, reliable and comes in a small form factor, the major challenges are the high cost of platinum (used as a catalyst), lack of infrastructure to support hydrogen distribution and the high cost of producing hydrogen and it not being widely available.

The team at BluJ says they understand the challenges and that their product and market strategy is both sustainable and practical. 

According to the firm, their core team brings together 100+ years of deep domain expertise, with members having previously worked for Boeing, General Electric, ISRO, Siemens and Collins Aerospace. 

BluJ was founded in May 2022 by CEO Maruthi Amardeep, a University of Cincinnati graduate who previously served as Engineering Director at Skyroot Aerospace, and CTO Utham Kumar Dharmapuri, who was an engineering lead at Boeing. 

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