Top 8 Heavy Lift Drones for Industrial Use

The ability to carry heavy payloads is one of the main engineering challenges facing the development of drones. Heavy lifting drones are specially designed so that the battery isn’t depleted too quickly from the energy needed to carry an object.

Heavy lifting drones are larger than the commonly known hobby drones and look more like small unmanned helicopters. They are specially designed with commercial use in mind such as carrying water for agricultural spraying, medical supplies for emergency response or cargo for dangerous locations.

What are heavy lift drones?

Heavy lift drones are unmanned aircraft that are designed to carry heavy payloads, making them ideal for tasks that are difficult, dangerous, or impossible for humans or traditional equipment to handle.

From construction and infrastructure projects to disaster relief and search and rescue missions, heavy-lift drones are quickly becoming an essential tool for industries that require heavy-lifting capabilities.

What drones can lift a heavy payload?

There are a variety of heavy-lift drones that are capable of lifting heavy payloads. The lifting capacity of a drone is determined by its size, power, and the type of propulsion system it uses.
Some of the most popular heavy-lift drones on the market today in order of highest payload capacity include:

Griff 300: Designed in Norway but soon to be fully manufactured in the US, the Griff 300 can lift 500 pounds / 226kg and fly for 30 to 45b minutes depending on the payload.
Boeing Heavy Lift Drone: Boeing has designed a large drone for transporting cargo. It’s called the Boeing CAV or Cargo Air Vehicle and can carry 500 pounds / 226kg and has a 20km range.
Ehang 216 AAV: The Ehang AAV (autonomous aerial vehicle) is purpose built for delivery to oil and gas operations, delivery of medical supplies and disaster relief. It has a capacity of 440 pounds /200kg.
Firefly by Parallel Flight Technologies: The Firefly drone can lift up to 100 pounds / 54kg, has a 20km range and about 2 hours of flight time.
DraganFly Heavy Lift Drone (DHL): The DraganFly is an American designed and manufactured cargo drone with up to 67 pounds / 30kg capacity and 55 minutes of flight time.
JOUAV CW-100II heavy lift drone: This VTOL drone can lift up to 55 pounds / 25kg which is not the most impressive but can fly for up to 12 hours and travel 200km.
Freefly Alta X: This drone is on the lower end of heavy lifting capacities with a maximum payload of 22 pounds or 10kg but worth a mention because this is one of the most affordable heavy lift drones available at the moment.
DJI Matrice 600: DJI does not design general heavy lift drones but the superseded Matrice 600 is capable of carrying a payload of 6kg. This model is no longer in production, it’s been replaced by the Matrice T30.

Heavy Lift Drone with Sprayer

The DJI Agras T40 and the Aerones heavy lift drone are both equipped with sprayers but are designed for different purposes. The Agras T40 has a downward spray system for distributing fertiliser and pesticides in agricultural use and the Aerones drone has a forward sprayer for cleaning high-rise building windows, wind turbines and firefighting.

The Aerones drone can also be connected to ground-based power and water sources for continuous spraying and flight.

Above: Aerones heavy lift drone spray cleaning wind turbines. Image credit:Aerones

Heavy Lift Drones from DJI

DJI doesn’t specialise in heavy lift drones (…yet) but they do have a few drones which are capable of carrying small payloads.

The Agras T40 carries up to 50kg of dry pallet material or 40L of liquid in custom spraying and spreading tanks.
The Matrice 600 can carry up to 6kg payload. This drone can be used for professional photography or commercial use when combined with the customised payload drop kit. The Matrice 600 is now out of production and has been replaced with the Matrice 30.
The DJI Matrice 30 can carry 685 grams of additional payload via a port which facilitates the addition of third party attachments.

Long Range Heavy Lift Drones

The range of most heavy lift drones is severely limited by the energy expended by lifting the cargo but the JOUAV CW-100II excels in this area. The CW-100II has a range of 200km and can travel for up to 2 hours.

This is a fixed-wing, VTOL drone that looks like a small plane, it has a 5m wingspan and stands about 3m tall.

The capabilities of the JOUAV UAV can be extended by combining with the custom LiDAR system for mapping, SAR system, camera with night vision, or satellite communication module.

Range: 200km
Payload: 25kg
Max altitude: 500m
Flight time: 480-720 minutes

Can a drone lift a person?

Technically yes, heavy lift drones such as the Griff 300, Ehang 216 and the Boeing CAV can carry over 200kg but they are designed for moving cargo and aren’t permitted to carry people. They also have very high price tags so you’re better off paying for a plane ticket!

How much does a heavy lift drone cost?

Heavy lift drones vary widely in price due to their range of capabilities and design. On the cheaper end, the FreeFly Alta drones start at around $18,000 USD. This drone only has a lift capacity of 10kg. Heavy lift drones designed for higher payloads such as Griff 300 start at $250,000.

Wrap Up on Heavy Lift Drones

Heavy lift drones are paving the way for the transport of emergency supplies and cargo to hard-to-reach and dangerous areas. Like most new technology, the cost is still very high and the regulations are still taking shape making heavy-lift drones a rarity in today’s logistics and emergency response industries.