The first fully electric commercial aircraft has completed a test run in Vancouver, Canada, flying for 15 minutes.
The plane is owned by Harbour Air, a company founded in 1982 in British Columbia that transports half a million passengers per year in a fleet of 42 seaplanes. They have daily, frequently-scheduled flights between Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, the Gulf Islands, Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast, and Whistler.
magniX designed and built the plane’s electric motor. They make advanced all-electric propulsion systems for commercial aviation and defense. The company started in Gold Coast Australia, and now has a global headquarters in Seattle, Washington. Roei Ganzarski, Chief Executive of magniX commented on the accomplishment: “This proves that commercial aviation in all-electric form can work.”
Ganzarski said the technology would mean significant cost savings for airlines and zero emissions. “This signifies the start of the electric aviation age,” he said.
The two companies worked together creating the e-plane, by taking a 62-year-old, six-passenger DHC-2 de Havilland Beaver seaplane and retrofitted it with a 750hp electric motor. Gregg McDougall, Founder and Chief Executive of Harbour Air, piloted the inaugural flight. “For me, that flight was just like flying a Beaver, but it was a Beaver on electric steroids. I actually had to back off on the power,” he said.
“Our goal is to actually electrify the entire fleet,” said McDougall. That will likely take around two years while they work on testing the plane for longer flights, in addition to having the electric motor approved and certified.
McDougall went on to say that the company would save millions in maintenance costs, as the electric motors require drastically less upkeep.
As of right now, they say the plane would be able to fly around 160km on lithium battery power, according to Ganzarski. It may not be that far, but would be able to accommodate the majority of short-haul flights run by Harbour Air. “The range now is not where we’d love it to be, but it’s enough to start the revolution,” said Ganzarski.
magniX will be using the company’s smaller Magni250 motors to power Israel-based company Eviation. Eviation and magniX are both owned by Singapore-based Clermont Group, whose owner Richard Chandler is fully funding magniX, without the need for other investors.
This is an exciting time in aviation with the development of new battery technologies like Lithium-Sulfur (Li-S) that are being designed specifically with aviation in mind, it won’t be long before long-haul flights will take place. Making the planes lighter, quieter, and much more environmentally friendly.
