Meet Hylio
The ag drone manufacturer grew its fleet 50% in 6 months
Happy Wednesday!
Last month, Hylio was No. 2 on my list of fastest-accelerating manufacturers in the FAA registry. Right behind Zipline.
So I went digging.
Hylio makes agricultural spray drones out of Texas.
Big ones.
And since I started collecting the registry on March 20, they’ve spread like Aspen trees.
On March 20, there were 798 Hylio aircraft registered in the US.
Today there are 1,179.
+381 new drones in 6 months. +48%.
Nearly all of the growth comes from two drones.
The HYL-150, Ares, hauls 110lbs of liquid and can cover up to 120 acres an hour. The HYL-300, Atlas, is rated for a 250-pound payload.
Fun backstory. Hylio started in a dorm room at the University of Texas at Austin in 2015. Today, its plant outside Houston can build 5,000 drones a year.
In December, the FCC blocked new foreign-made drones from getting approved for sale in the States.
In August, it proposed going further, specifically covering foreign spray drones and anything over 55 pounds.
Hylio is protected. It builds in Texas, and says 80% of its components come from the US or allied countries.
This is the Aerial Economy in action. Slowly, then all at once. Message me if you'd like to see more data.
One footnote - the FAA registry only tracks drones > 55lbs. Hylio’s smaller models are untraceable.