Earlier this year Harbour Air, a floatplane service, tour and charter airline based in Richmond, British Columbia made history with the world’s first commercial electric flight.
The electric motor in that seaplane was built by magniX, a company based in neighbouring Washington State.
Now magni-X has teamed up with AeroTEC to outfit a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, a nine-seat passenger aircraft, to create and successfully fly the world’s largest electric plane.
The plane was equipped with a 750-horsepower magni500 propulsion system, the same engine found in the Harbour Air plane that took flight earlier this year.
The test flight took place in Moses Lake Washington earlier this week, and marks an important step towards electric aviation becoming more mainstream according to Roei Ganzarski, CEO of magniX.
“This first flight of the eCaravan is yet another step on the road to operating these middle-mile aircraft at a fraction of the cost, with zero emissions, from and to smaller airports. These electric commercial aircraft will enable the offering of flying services of people and packages in a way previously not possible.”
Check out this brief video showing the test flight below.
