First electric passenger aircraft makes successful test flight (video)

In Canada, a successful test flight took place for the first time with an electric aircraft capable of transporting passengers. The airplane, called ‘eBeaver’, from Harbor Air is to start operating commercial passenger flights from 2022 onwards.

The eBeaver is a heavily modified version of the Havilland DCH-2 Beaver, designed in 1946. It contains a 750 hp Magnix electric engine and the range is approximately 100 miles (160 km). It is not the world’s first electric plane, but it is the first that can carry people. There is room for six passengers in a DHC-2 Beaver.

The range of 160 km may not seem like much, but it is more than sufficient to fly between Canada, for example, between the cities of Vancouver and Victoria (93 km). With the plane that takes half an hour, while otherwise it takes more than four hours.

 Of course, electric flying offers even more advantages. For example, charging the battery only costs around 10 to 20 dollars in electricity, while a ‘normal’ aircraft uses around 300 dollars in fuel per hour. In addition, for example, maintenance costs are lower and much less infrastructure is needed to be able to refuel (actually only chargers are needed).

CEO and pilot Greg McDougall of Harbor Air already states that history has been written with the eBeaver. And also CEO Roei Ganzarski of Magnix is ​​lyrical about the plane. “We prove that cheap, environmentally friendly, commercial electric aviation can be a reality in the very near future,” said Ganzarski.