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It's wonderful. The word "Droneports" is becoming mainstream. Can someone shed light on their economies of scale? What are the challenges they may be facing?

It's wonderful. The word "Droneports" is becoming mainstream. Can someone shed light on their economies of scale? What are the challenges they may be facing? It is also interesting to know the technical and engineering challenges they may be facing with the technology. Are they drones completely autonomous? Command Control can change the route mid-flight? How do they do communication in long-range? How do they handle faults in-flight?

baybal2 6y ago
> Can someone shed light on their economies of scale? What are the challenges they may be facing? A drone like zipline's latest model cost at most $500 in low volume manufacturing. Making at least 10000 of them in one go will likely to halve the price, and I see them going there over last few models. With 100km range, you have to put extra droneports on the triangular grid. To link the US West Coast North to South you will need a minimum of 20 droneports. Add 10 more of them reach most major coastal cities. So, making a commitment to buy 10k drones over 2-3 years, and operating 20 droneports should cost around $4m-$5m a year. With just $1m going to drones themselves. Making $5m a year from small package express delivery on Seattle-LA route should be not that hard. 200 packages a day at DHL prices. You can halve the droneport costs if you make bigger drones for longer range transport in between two major hubs, but that's the problem. 100km is a practical limit of an electric fixed wing drones that carry sub 1kg payloads. If you want more than that, you either make them really big, or venture into play with supermaterials like CFRP, or IC engines/turbines. The cheapest PT6A variant costs $500k...
- grogenaut 6y ago
  Is the parachute dispoable or does it get returned? 100km is round trip right?
  - gertrunde 6y ago
    From the video referenced in other comments, the parachute is disposable (looks like it's made out of a bit of paper or plastic and packing tape), and the range is 160km round trip, the service area is an 80km radius around the droneport.

baybal2 6y ago

> Can someone shed light on their economies of scale? What are the challenges they may be facing? A drone like zipline's latest model cost at most $500 in low volume manufacturing. Making at least 10000 of them in one go will likely to halve the price, and I see them going there over last few models. With 100km range, you have to put extra droneports on the triangular grid. To link the US West Coast North to South you will need a minimum of 20 droneports. Add 10 more of them reach most major coastal cities. So, making a commitment to buy 10k drones over 2-3 years, and operating 20 droneports should cost around $4m-$5m a year. With just $1m going to drones themselves. Making $5m a year from small package express delivery on Seattle-LA route should be not that hard. 200 packages a day at DHL prices. You can halve the droneport costs if you make bigger drones for longer range transport in between two major hubs, but that's the problem. 100km is a practical limit of an electric fixed wing drones that carry sub 1kg payloads. If you want more than that, you either make them really big, or venture into play with supermaterials like CFRP, or IC engines/turbines. The cheapest PT6A variant costs $500k...

grogenaut 6y ago
Is the parachute dispoable or does it get returned? 100km is round trip right?
- gertrunde 6y ago
  From the video referenced in other comments, the parachute is disposable (looks like it's made out of a bit of paper or plastic and packing tape), and the range is 160km round trip, the service area is an 80km radius around the droneport.