DJI on Thursday unveiled the DJI EV50, its first vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) fixed-wing cargo drone designed for long-range regional transport.
The company said the aircraft reached an operating altitude of 8,861 meters during a Mount Everest scientific expedition earlier this year, exceeding the mountain’s summit by 12 meters and setting a new record for high-altitude operations by a VTOL drone.
During the 12-day expedition, the EV50 completed 32 flights, including 12 missions carrying atmospheric monitoring equipment. Taking off from Everest Base Camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters, the drone climbed as much as 3,730 meters in a single flight to collect atmospheric data at the designated observation altitude.
According to Ye Chunxiang, a professor at Peking University’s College of Environmental Science and Engineering and the expedition’s lead researcher, continuous atmospheric observation above 8,000 meters has long posed technical challenges due to the limitations of manned expeditions, weather balloons, fuel-powered fixed-wing aircraft, and multirotor drones.
Ye said the EV50’s all-electric propulsion system enabled researchers to observe glacier winds and collect atmospheric data that could support studies on climate change and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau’s atmospheric environment.
The EV50 features a hybrid propulsion system with eight vertical-lift rotors and three forward propulsion motors. It can take off and land vertically without requiring a runway. The aircraft has a maximum payload of 50 kilograms, a maximum range of 150 kilometers without payload, a top speed of 160 km/h, and a 270-liter cargo compartment.
The EV50 also comes with dual thermal management systems, an anti-icing pitot tube, four independent batteries, and an emergency parachute for added operational redundancy.
DJI said the aircraft is expected to be deployed in applications including emergency response, logistics in remote areas, and scientific research.
The launch builds on DJI’s earlier efforts in aerial logistics. In 2024, the company’s FlyCart 30 completed what DJI described as the world’s first drone delivery trials on Mount Everest, transporting oxygen cylinders and supplies between Everest Base Camp and Camp 1 while carrying waste back down the mountain.
Unlike the multirotor FlyCart series, the EV50 adopts a fixed-wing VTOL design intended for longer-range regional cargo transport. The launch expands DJI’s portfolio of industrial drones for challenging environments.
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