Most commercial drones run on batteries and can only stay airborne for about 20-30 minutes — barely enough to inspect a single power line tower before heading back. Quaternium built a drone that runs on both fuel and electricity, like a hybrid car but for the sky. Their HYBRiX multicopter set a world record by flying for 4 hours and 40 minutes on a single tank. That kind of endurance opens up jobs that drones simply couldn't do before — covering entire pipelines, surveying huge farms, or monitoring wildfires for hours without landing.
Standard multirotor drones run out of battery in 20-30 minutes, making them useless for long-range inspections, large-area surveys, or extended surveillance. Companies needing persistent aerial coverage are forced to choose between expensive manned helicopters or constant drone battery swaps that waste time and limit operational range.
Quaternium built a TRL9 hybrid fuel-electric multicopter drone (HYBRiX) that flies 10 times longer than battery-only alternatives, with a demonstrated world-record flight of 4 hours and 40 minutes. The final deliverable was a market-ready prototype with production infrastructure for over 500 units per year.
If you are a utility company dealing with expensive helicopter inspections of power lines, pipelines, or wind farms — this project built a hybrid drone with 10 times more flight time than standard multicopters. That means covering entire transmission corridors in a single flight instead of dozens of battery swaps, cutting inspection costs dramatically.
If you are an agricultural services company struggling to survey large fields because battery drones cover only small areas per flight — HYBRiX offers a multicopter that flew for 4 hours and 40 minutes in a world-record test. One flight can map hundreds of hectares for crop health, irrigation planning, or pest detection without interruption.
If you are a public safety agency that needs persistent aerial surveillance during emergencies but cannot justify the cost of a manned helicopter — this project developed a drone ready for production at over 500 units per year. Extended flight time means continuous monitoring of disaster zones, missing-person searches, or wildfire perimeters for hours, not minutes.
The project objective mentions HYBRiX targets customers who cannot afford a manned helicopter but need more flight time than current drones offer. Specific unit pricing is not disclosed in the project data, but with planned production capacity of over 500 units per year, economies of scale should keep costs well below manned aircraft alternatives.
Yes. The project aimed to reach TRL9 (ready for commercialization and wide-scale production) with capacity to assemble, store, distribute, and sell over 500 HYBRiX units per year. The deliverable confirms a TRL9 system prototype was completed.
HYBRiX was developed entirely by Quaternium Technologies, a single-partner SME project with no university or research partners. All IP is held by the company. Licensing or purchase arrangements would need to be negotiated directly with Quaternium.
The project objective specifically mentions achieving product, market, and regulation fit by project end. The project aimed to ensure compliance with drone regulations in Europe and North America, though specific certifications are not detailed in the available data.
Quaternium set the World Record of Multirotor Endurance in December 2017 with a 4-hour 40-minute flight at TRL6. The EU-funded project ran from July 2018 to December 2020 to bring the technology from TRL6 to TRL9. The project is now closed and the product is commercially available.
Based on available project data, specific integration details with third-party fleet management software are not described. However, Quaternium planned commercial representation and technical support networks in Europe and North America, suggesting standard professional drone capabilities.
The project objective states Quaternium planned to establish a commercial representation and technical support network in Europe and North America. As a commercially operating company with a production facility, ongoing support infrastructure was part of the market-readiness plan.
This is a single-company project — Quaternium Technologies, a Spanish SME, is the sole partner. That means all development, IP, and commercialization sit under one roof with no university dependencies or multi-partner coordination delays. The 100% industry composition and SME status signal a company laser-focused on getting a product to market, not publishing research papers. With EUR 1,500,000 in EU funding and no consortium to split it with, the full budget went directly into product development and market preparation. For a buyer, this simplifies the conversation: one company owns everything and makes all decisions.
Quaternium Technologies is based in Spain. Contact them through their website at quaternium.com for product inquiries and pricing.
Want an introduction to the HYBRiX team? SciTransfer can arrange a direct meeting with Quaternium to discuss your specific use case, pricing, and deployment timeline.
