Power Tether vs. Longer Flight Time for Cleaning Drones

Lucid's Sherpa Power Tether uses a 200-foot power cable, ground station, air module, generator connection, and onboard emergency battery. The wash hose remains. The manufacturer requires the cable to be fully unspooled and inspected and specifies a generator with at least 10,000 running watts.

Installation takes under 15 minutes, and Lucid tested eight hours of continuous flight. On a suitable site, scheduled battery stops disappear.

The trade is added setup, generator support, electrical cable management, a second airborne line, and another route that must remain dry, protected, visible, and clear of people, vehicles, landscaping, projections, and the wash hose.

Cable length and cleaning height are different numbers. The tethered Sherpa reaches approximately 140 feet with the high-pressure hose and 110 to 115 feet with the soft-wash hose. Hose size, weight, rigidity, wind, payload, and current draw set the limit.

The B2 reaches up to 195 feet on batteries. The wash hose stays the binding constraint in both configurations.

The B2 flies up to 32 minutes versus 19 for the Sherpa. More time per leg reduces how often the crew pays the descend, land, change, check, relaunch, and reposition penalty. It adds no second airborne cable.

For 240 airborne cleaning minutes, a 32-minute maximum implies seven transitions before reserves and site deductions. If each complete transition costs three, five, or ten minutes, the modeled interruption is 21, 35, or 70 minutes. A ground-power system earns a time advantage only when avoided transition and charging time exceeds its setup, cable repositioning, and generator interruptions.

Ground power is strongest on one broad, contiguous face with a clear staging area, limited repositioning, compatible height, calm conditions, protected cable routing, and enough continuous cleaning time for avoided battery stops to exceed setup and line-management cost.

Longer battery endurance is stronger when the crew must move around corners, cross disconnected faces, relocate the rig, work near traffic or landscaping, reach beyond the tested tether-and-hose envelope, or simplify ground logistics.

Aircraft weight and energy demand can make continuous ground power more attractive. The tether is a duty-cycle tool for the Sherpa. It extends working time, and cleaning reach stays with the hose.

Start with the property map. Count work faces, moves, corners, pedestrian crossings, generator locations, and required height. Then compare the measured complete battery transition with the measured tether setup and reposition process.

For SkyPSI, longer flight time is the default advantage because it preserves mobility and attacks the landing penalty directly. Ground power is a site-specific exception when the scope is long, stationary, and comfortably inside the proven operating envelope.