We talked to Dante Vaisbort, Co-founder and COO of Haylon Technologies, about his vision on the industry challenges and involvement in GUTMA
“Right now, large-scale battery cell producers can’t respond to the needs of individual
companies. That’s led to business that aren’t experts in the field of batteries hastily putting
together their own packs. By solving that disconnect, we can generate significantly higher
performance for businesses.”
What is HAYLON and what is its role and involvement within GUTMA?
Haylon Technologies is creating the next generation of battery management system for electric
aerospace. Our unique combination of hardware and software allows for lab-level battery
performance in the field, enabling us to produce smart battery packs with 200% the energy
density and cycle lives of current market-leading products.
Right now, our company is conducting a limited number of pilots with companies in the UTM
space. The three partners we are working to operate drones primarily in the security, delivery, and
inspection industries. While Haylon is at-capacity for pilots for the next three months, we are
actively looking for valued partners to build relationship with and supply prototype battery packs.
Our company is among GUTMA’s newest members, officially joining in July of 2022. We joined
GUTMA to meet leaders in the industry and collaborate with them to produce the optimal battery
products for unmanned electric flights.
According to you, what are the biggest industry challenges at the moment?
Two of the largest challenges we see the industry facing at the moment are limitations on
battery energy density, and the disconnect between the interests of original equiment
manufacturers (OEMs) and end users. On the first issue, even though energy density is of
critical importance for small UTMs, they’re forced to rely on power-focused battery packs with
low energy density in order to lift off and accelerate. For this reason, flight times for small UTMs
are frequently capped around 20-25 minutes, when otherwise they could be 40%-70% higher.
The first product that Haylon developed is a solution to this problem.
The second issue we’ve discovered is that the original equipment manufacturers for UTMs and
the end users of the equipment have misaligned incentives when it comes to battery products.
Businesses that use UTMs for critical operations want batteries with long, reliable use-of-life, but
selling replacement batteries is a cash machine for the OEMs. Many OEMs profit massively
from the recurring revenue they get from battery pack sales, and those companies have a
vested interest in not incorporating technology like ours into their products. It’s unclear how long
the strategy of maximizing battery waste and customer battery costs will last though. We’re
already seeing evidence of some market shakeups in response to concerns about battery
performance.
A word about the need to be working along the full ecosystem/value-chain?
As a battery company producing a product for UTMs, it’s very important for us to work closely
with stakeholders in the wider ecosystem to understand their needs and co-develop a product
that works for them.
Our plan to jointly address the two issues mentioned above is to connect the UTM value chain,
from cell manufacturers, the OEMs, and the products’ end users. We’re partnering with leading
companies producing novel high-energy cells for UTMs to ensure their solutions work the best
they can in the field and seeing whether those joint solutions can fit into the OEM’s
manufacturing process. Where they can, we help the OEMs drive value for end users. Where
the OEMs can’t, we plan to go direct to the end users.
ABOUT DANTE VAISBORT
Dante Vaisbort is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Haylon Technologies, joining a
team of three technologists with a vision for a better battery. Prior to joining the Haylon team,
Dante worked in energy technology consulting at Accenture, and as a strategy consultant at
McKinsey & Company.
ABOUT HAYLON TECHNOLOGIES
Haylon Technologies is creating the next generation of battery management system for electric
aerospace. Our unique combination of hardware and software allows for lab-level battery
performance in the field, enabling use to produce smart battery packs with 200% the energy
density and cycle lives of current market-leading products. Haylon is currently conducting a
limited number of pilots with companies in the drone space.
For more information visit the Haylon Technologies website at https://www.haylontech.com