Fleet Sizing for High-Capacity Agricultural Drones: How Many Units Do You Actually Need?

Determining optimal fleet size for high-capacity agricultural spray drones requires balancing seasonal demand, daily capacity constraints, and capital efficiency. This guide provides a systematic sizing methodology.

Seasonal Demand Assessment

Start with total seasonal hectare target. For example: 18,000 hectares over a 90-day spray season requires average daily capacity of 200 hectares.

Account for weather downtime: operational days typically represent 60–70% of calendar days during spray season due to wind, rain, and application window restrictions.

Effective operational timeline: 90 calendar days = 55–65 operational days. Required daily capacity increases to 275–325 hectares to achieve 18,000 hectare seasonal target.

Single-Unit Daily Capacity

T100 productivity varies based on operational factors:

Large blocks (200+ hectares), close refill (under 2km): 70–80 hectares per day.

Medium blocks (100–200 hectares), moderate refill (2–5km): 55–65 hectares per day.

Small blocks (under 100 hectares), distant refill (5km+): 40–50 hectares per day.

Use our fleet sizing calculator to input your specific operational parameters.

Unit Count Calculation

For the example scenario (325 hectares daily target, 60 hectares per unit capacity):

Required units: 325 ÷ 60 = 5.4 units

Recommended fleet: 6 units providing operational buffer for maintenance and demand variability.

Staffing Requirements

Each T100 unit requires one pilot and 0.5 ground crew (mixing/refilling). For 6-unit operation:

Pilots required: 6 full-time Ground crew required: 3–4 full-time

Labour availability often constrains fleet scaling more than equipment capital.

Capital Investment Scaling

Single unit: $65,000 average 6-unit fleet: $390,000 total equipment investment Staffing (9 personnel, seasonal): $180,000–$240,000

Total operational investment: $570,000–$630,000 for 18,000 hectare seasonal capacity.

Utilization Rate Optimization

Target utilization: 75–85% of theoretical capacity to account for weather, maintenance, and demand variability.

Undersized fleets (90%+ utilization) risk service delivery failures and equipment stress.

Oversized fleets (under 60% utilization) carry excess capital and demonstrate poor asset efficiency.

Scaling Strategies

Start with 2-unit operation to establish operational processes and market demand validation.

Scale to 4–6 units after demonstrating consistent utilization above 80% for initial capacity.

Multi-unit operations benefit from operational redundancy, maintenance scheduling flexibility, and ability to serve multiple simultaneous clients.

Break-Even Fleet Economics

Fixed costs (insurance, storage, administrative): $25,000–$40,000 annually regardless of fleet size.

Variable costs scale linearly with utilization: $8–$12 per hectare.

Break-even typically occurs at 8,000–10,000 hectares annually for single-unit operations, improving to 7,000–9,000 hectares per unit for multi-unit fleets due to fixed cost spreading.