A new approach to calculating endurance in electric flight and comparing fuel cells and batteries

The main parameter for the comparison was the endurance but the takeoff performance, the volume of the powertrain and the environmental impact were also taken into account. The battery-based powertrain was found to be the most suitable for low-energy applications while the fuel cell performed better when increasing the amount of energy stored on board. The investigation allowed the estimation of the threshold above which the fuel cell based powertrain becomes the best solution for the UAV.