As drones, ground robots and uncrewed maritime systems take on higher-stakes missions, power has become a defining operational constraint. On a recent Dawn of Autonomy episode, Tulip Tech Founder and CEO Bernd Rietberg explained how the Netherlands-based battery company aims to address that challenge with high-energy, mission-specific and scalable battery systems designed to support what he calls “the resilience of the free world.”
Tulip Tech develops battery packs for drones and other autonomous systems, with a growing focus on defense applications. The company designs its products to increase range, endurance and reliability while building Western manufacturing capacity for a supply chain that has become strategically important.
Batteries Define Drone Mission Success
A drone is only as capable as the energy it carries. More energy density can mean more time on station, greater range, increased payload flexibility and fewer landings or battery changes. For operational users, those outcomes can determine whether a platform merely demonstrates capability or accomplishes a mission.
Tulip Tech says it makes drones fly 30% to 100% farther, with benefits that can extend to unmanned ground vehicles and unmanned underwater vehicles as well. Rietberg described power not as a secondary component, but as an essential enabler of autonomy.
“What we enable in this whole world of the ‘dawn of autonomy’ is the ability to realize, in all the different applications, power,” he said. “It is about batteries. You need a resilient supply chain, and you need to be able to get as much energy into your system as possible.”
The company approaches battery development as a platform and mission integration problem. Instead of applying a generic pack to every aircraft, Tulip Tech works with OEMs to understand airframe geometry, endurance targets, environmental conditions, payload needs and electrical requirements. That process can involve selecting from thousands of cell chemistries or collaborating with cell suppliers to customize a chemistry around a specific application, according to Rietberg.
This distinction matters because a battery that performs well in one operating environment may not suit another. High heat, cold weather, storage requirements, discharge profiles and aircraft form factors all shape what a mission-ready battery needs to deliver.
Mission-Specific Battery Technology
Tulip Tech supports three broad battery paths: high-density battery packs, custom battery packs and smart battery systems with battery-management functionality.
The standard high-density packs offer an entry point for companies that need more endurance without redesigning an airframe. Rietberg said these products can provide approximately 40% more range than standard batteries commonly used in the market.
Custom packs move further into system integration. Tulip Tech works with OEMs to determine how much range they need within a specific volume and weight budget, along with the exact mission profile. Rietberg said that level of collaboration can lead to endurance improvements of 70%, 80% or even more than 100% in some cases.
“We are really a development partner, an enabler,” he explained. “We have seen so many crazy ideas. If you know of anyone that is building these things, we would love to help you out.”
At the most integrated level, Tulip Tech adds battery-management systems and software designed to help customers address safety, long-term storage and operational reliability. The company has developed its own battery-management firmware and emphasized the value of maintaining a secure Western supply chain for that technology.
Rietberg noted that the need goes beyond simply achieving longer flight time. Operators increasingly need power systems that can remain dependable through changing mission conditions and throughout the deployment lifecycle.
Reliability Requires More Than Cells
High energy density alone does not guarantee a mission-ready battery. Rietberg framed reliability as both a product and organizational requirement.
At the product level, Tulip Tech uses automated production and tests incoming cells and finished packs. The company seeks to ensure every pack is built consistently, rather than relying on variable manual assembly processes. Rietberg said the company performs beginning-of-line cell testing, matches cells for optimal pack construction and conducts end-of-line testing on battery packs before delivery.
“We are very proud to not do things by hand,” Rietberg noted. “We have automated production, and then we do beginning-of-line testing, so that every cell that is coming in [is tested] to see if it is actually correct.”
Reliability also extends to customer communication, delivery schedules and the ability to scale with a customer’s program. A drone OEM may begin with a requirement for 100 aircraft, then face demand for hundreds of thousands or even millions. A battery supplier must be able to move with the program, not become its production bottleneck.
“Reliability is all about just what you would think of. It’s about a normal way of working and just being normal,” Rietberg said. “Respond to emails, keep your agreements, keep the customer up to date.”
That straightforward standard has commercial consequences. In defense and mission-critical autonomy, late deliveries, unclear communication and inconsistent quality can directly disrupt fielding plans.
Scaling Western Battery Manufacturing
Tulip Tech has built its production model around automation and modularity. Rietberg said the company’s current factory uses automotive robots and can produce 1 million+ battery packs annually on a single line. Its next-generation factory model will use smaller, faster collaborative robots, or “cobots,” to increase output while using fewer people per line.
The company’s Generation 2 factory concept is designed to produce twice the output with half the people on the same line to create a fourfold efficiency improvement, according to Rietberg. It also aims to retain flexibility for new battery shapes and unmanned-system requirements as the market evolves.
“The ‘dawn of autonomy’ is also about production,” he said. “Ten years ago it would have taken tens of millions of euros to build an automated factory. And now it is taking us much less because we have 3D printing, we have cobots, we have AI writing software.”
Tulip Tech is also expanding its U.S. manufacturing footprint. Rietberg said the company plans to bring autonomous production online in the United States in the first quarter of 2027, with a goal of building up to 1 million battery packs annually as production ramps.
That investment aligns with a larger shift toward more resilient, domestically aligned battery supply chains. Rietberg said the company is developing partnerships to supply NDAA-compliant battery packs in the U.S. while working to improve the scale and cost competitiveness of Western cell supply.
A Mission to Support the Free World
Tulip Tech’s stated mission connects battery technology directly to strategic resilience. “We want to help defend countries by building better batteries to improve the resilience of the free world,” Rietberg said.
That mission reflects the company’s evolution. Rietberg founded the business after working on an electric aviation startup, where he saw the importance of high-performance battery systems. As the electric aviation market developed more slowly than expected, the company shifted its focus toward drones in 2020. Since 2023, accelerating defense demand has reshaped its priorities.
Tulip Tech still carries sustainability in its organizational DNA, Rietberg said, but now sees defending democratic societies as an equally urgent imperative. “We stand for defending democracy now,” he said. “It is as sustainable to defend democracy as it is to mitigate CO2.”
The company has direct ties to the rapidly evolving Ukrainian drone ecosystem, where Rietberg said Tulip Tech supports units across Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces and receives operational feedback that helps refine future battery designs. He views autonomy as a tool that can reduce human exposure in dangerous environments while delivering more persistent sensing, surveillance and operational capability. “I really believe that autonomy can help save lives and defend the free world,” Rietberg said.
For the autonomy sector, that means batteries deserve more attention than they often receive. As platforms become faster to develop, more capable and more widely deployed, the power system will increasingly determine what those systems can do, how reliably they can do it and whether they can be produced at the scale mission demand requires.