Sunnyvale, California-based Impossible Aerospace has unveiled an all-electric commercial drone with a battery life of two hours and a recharging time of under an hour. According to the company, its US-1 quadrotor design matches the performance of drones powered by internal-combustion engines. Impossible said it has already begun selling its first units—equipped with optical and thermal sensors—to firefighters, police departments, and search-and-rescue teams across the U.S. and has raised $11 million in seed capital from investors that include Airbus Ventures, Eclipse Ventures, and Bessemer Venture Partners.
"It's not so much an aircraft as it is a flying battery, leveraging an energy source that doubles as its primary structure. This is how electric aircraft must be built if they are to compete with conventional designs and displace petroleum fuels in aviation," said Impossible Aerospace CEO Spencer Gore.
Impossible said that every US-1 will be engineered and assembled entirely in the U.S. to address security and privacy concerns. The small UAS will retail for about $7,000 and be available for delivery in late 2018. The 26-by-26-inch aircraft has a top speed of 42 mph, an unladen mass of 15.7 pounds, and a rated payload of 2.9 pounds. Flight time with a rated payload is 78 minutes and maximum operating range is 40.5 nm.