Side-by-side comparison of the full 5-year cost of running a hydrogen UAV fleet on Type III aluminium-lined cylinders versus MEYER® cylinders. Click the ? next to any input to see what it means and what typical values look like. The model accounts for cylinder cost, replacement cycles, mass-driven flight-time gain, and revenue per flight.
Fleet operation
Fleet size 100
Total cylinders in operation. Typically one per UAV.
1250500
Flights / cyl / day 4
A “flight” is one mission, takeoff to landing. Each flight uses one fill cycle.
1612
Working days / yr 250
250 ≈ Mon–Fri commercial. 365 ≈ 24/7 operations.
100250365
Revenue / flight (€)
Avg revenue per flight. Inspection drone: €150–300. Set to 0 for non-commercial.
Flight length (min) 30 min
Flight duration takeoff→landing. Used to convert extra flight time into extra revenue.
1090180
Flight gain per kg saved 2.5 min/kg
Empirical: extra minutes of flight time per kg of cylinder mass saved. Small UAVs: 2–3 min/kg.
036
Cylinder technology — edit any value to compare
Legacy choice
Type III aluminium-lined
Mass per cyl
kg
Unit cost€
Cycle life cycles
Lifespan modelLimited (retires)
Total fleet mass—
Years until first retirement—
Replacement events in 1 yr—
Replacement events in 5 yr—
1-year cylinder spend—
5-year cylinder spend—
Meyer HDRX
MEYER® cylinders
Mass per cyl
kg
Unit cost€
Cycle lifeiNLL — No Limited Lifespan. The cylinder has no fixed retirement date and stays in service indefinitely as long as it passes periodic test (typically a 5-year hydrostatic test). Qualified per ISO 11119-3:2020 / EN 12245:2022 in EU/TPED markets. Not recognised under US/DOT, where service is calendar-capped at 15 years.
Lifespan modelNLL (no retirement)
Total fleet mass—
Years until first retirement—
Replacement events in 1 yr—
Replacement events in 5 yr—
1-year cylinder spend—
5-year cylinder spend—
Net 5-year advantage of MEYER® vs Type III
€0over 5 years
—
Cylinder spend Δ
—
Revenue uplift (mass delta)
—
Mass saved (fleet, total)
—
Visual breakdown
Cumulative 5-year spend
Type IIIMEYER®
Step changes mark replacement events. The crossover is the moment MEYER® becomes the cheaper choice.
Cycles consumed vs cycle-life threshold
Type III limitMEYER® limitCycles per cylinder
Where the cycles line crosses a threshold = a cylinder retirement event. NLL = no horizontal MEYER® line.
Cumulative net advantage of MEYER®
Cumulative net (€)Break-even (€0)
(Type III spend − MEYER® spend) + revenue uplift, accumulated. Crosses €0 at the payback point.
Note: indicative model. Real cost of ownership depends on swap-out logistics, cylinder qualification re-flight cost, and operational downtime — not modelled here. Mass-to-flight-time uses 2–3 min/kg as the typical empirical band for small UAVs (5–25 kg gross weight). Adjust to your operation in the inputs.
Glossary
Flight (also: sortie, mission): one trip from takeoff to landing. Each flight uses one fill cycle.
Cycle: one fill-and-empty of the cylinder. For a hydrogen drone, 1 flight = 1 cycle.
Cycle life: how many cycles a cylinder can do before reaching its qualified retirement.
NLL: No Limited Lifespan. Cylinders qualified to NLL have no fixed retirement date — they stay in service as long as they pass periodic inspection.
Type III: composite cylinder with an aluminium liner that shares the pressure load.
How the model works
Cylinder spend. Type III is replaced when total cycles cross the cycle-life threshold. MEYER® cylinders are NLL (qualified to 24,000 cycles); replacements only triggered if total fleet flights exceed that threshold within 5 years. Revenue uplift. Mass delta × per-kg flight-time gain × revenue/min × total flights. Net advantage. Revenue uplift minus the upfront cost premium of Type IV.
