DIY creators often push boundaries with clever hacks and unusual builds, but every now and then someone attempts something that feels almost impossible. A drone that flies without a battery certainly fits that category — yet that’s exactly what a popular DIY engineer has just pulled off.
YouTuber and engineer Luke Maximo Bell has revealed his latest project: a drone powered entirely by solar energy, with no battery, no capacitor, and no backup storage of any kind. The feat comes just days after he and his father Mike Bell attempted to reclaim the Guinness World Record for the fastest drone with their 585 km/h Peregreen 3. This week, Luke shifted gears completely — from extreme speed to extreme efficiency.
To get a battery-free drone in the air, Luke kept the build as light as possible. He used a carbon-fiber frame and propellers, both for strength and to shave unnecessary grams. The star of the build is a long, rigid slat made up of 27 miniature solar panels, wired directly into the drone’s power system. With no storage buffer, every bit of energy needed for lift had to come straight from the sun.
After several adjustments and short test hops, Luke managed to fly the drone around a field. It wasn’t perfect — the drone wobbled whenever a light breeze hit it, and power delivery fluctuated with changes in sunlight — but it flew, powered only by the solar panel array. That alone marks the project as a success.
Looking ahead, Luke says this is just the beginning. He plans to build a more polished version outfitted with additional solar panels, GPS, and autonomous flight software. His ultimate goal: to attempt another Guinness World Record, this time for the longest-flying drone powered purely by the sun.
It may be early days, but the first flight proves the concept works — and hints at what dedicated hobby engineers can achieve with creativity, patience, and a lot of sunlight.
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