Cellula’s Envoy AUV Exceeds 2,000 km Submerged on Hydrogen Fuel Cell Power
Press Release + Noah Note
Cellula Robotics Ltd has demonstrated more than 2,000 km of fully submerged endurance with its Envoy Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, exceeding the platform’s published performance specification in a representative underwater mission profile.
Fully submerged mission exceeded published performance specification in a non-linear underwater profile representative of real subsea operation
Completed fully submerged, the mission provides a realistic indication of usable underwater range beyond a straight-line transit figure. Over the course of the profile, the Envoy AUV executed more than 4,000 turns and manoeuvres, each of which increased energy demand compared with steady, linear travel. This makes the result a more meaningful demonstration of real-world subsea performance in practical operating conditions.
The milestone was achieved using hydrogen fuel cell technology developed with Infinity Fuel Cell and Hydrogen, Inc., whose fuel cell solution supports Envoy’s long-endurance performance below the surface.
“The significance of this result is not just the distance travelled, but that it was achieved fully submerged in a mission profile that better reflects real subsea operations,” said Neil Manning, CEO of Cellula Robotics. “That is what makes the endurance meaningful for operators, with the potential for fewer recoveries, more continuous operations, and greater efficiency offshore.”
For operators, endurance is what turns technical capability into offshore results. Longer fully submerged missions can reduce the number of recoveries and relaunches required, support mission continuity, and make better use of vessel time in programmes where logistics, weather windows, and offshore intervention all affect cost and execution.
The Envoy AUV remained on mission for 385 hours and covered 2,023 km submerged on hydrogen fuel cell power The result demonstrates persistent, long-range AUV performance in a real underwater operating context and reinforces hydrogen fuel cells as a practical enabling technology for extended autonomous subsea operations.
“We are proud to support a milestone that shows what hydrogen fuel cells can enable in real subsea operations,” said William Smith, President & CEO of Infinity Fuel Cell and Hydrogen, Inc. “This result highlights the role fuel cell technology can play in extending endurance, reducing intervention requirements, and supporting more capable long-range autonomous missions.”
While on mission, Envoy’s hydrogen fuel cell system generated water as a by-product, underscoring the lower-emission potential of fuel cell-powered subsea operations alongside their endurance benefits. The demonstration reinforces Envoy’s suitability for missions where endurance directly affects mission continuity, offshore efficiency, and the practicality of sustained subsea deployment.
Noah Note: A significant achievement for Cellula. The company has been positioning to offer Hydrogen-cell options for it's line of AUV. I should note that Envoy is not the same as Guardian, the XLUUV that we often speak about here. However, this is a step in the direction of certifying Hydrogen-cells for the Guardian.
Envoy is the smaller sister of Guardian, woth a proposed range of 2000km, so not only resching that but exceeding it is a fantastic achievement, and a testament to the companies efforts to develop a donestic, long-range AUV capability for Canada.
Again, while the Guardian is the primary course of discussion thanks to the ongoing Uncrewed Underwater Surveillance System project, smaller AUV like Envoy will likely remain the primary workhorse of the future UUV fleet.
At 8.5m, 2700 kgs, and with a fifteen day endurance, a platform like Envoy provides the navy with a highly transportable, Long-Endurance, Autonomous platform that could rapidly be deployed from almost anynplanned platform, including potentially smaller platforms like FASST-V, dependent of course on final size and layout.
Envoy can assist in a number of roles including as an ISR platform, MCM, Monitoring and Survelliance of Critical Undersea Infrastructure, Surveying, and as a platform for deploying other payloads, such as deployable sensors, relays, or smaller ROV for supporting Undersea Infrastructure.
Guardian will be the independent, long-range platform that will be deployed to monitor the channels of the Archipelago and up in the Arctic, at least in theory. Platforms like Envoy will be the sort of AUV you will commonly see deployed in support of platforms like the River-class, CDC, and AOPS.
So it's always nice to see these kinds of platforms, especially Canadian ones, making the strides to become proper platforms worth considering in the conversation.