“Hello, this is your captain speaking. You’re aboard the largest ever electric aircraft.” – something we could hear in the (hopefully) not too distant future!
In a world being ravaged by climate change, it’s nice to hear news about sustainable alternatives. First, steam trains were replaced. Now, we have electric cars destined to be the norm. Next up, electric planes.
That’s right, on 29th May 2020, the world’s largest electric plane took off from a Washington state airstrip and stayed in the air for 28 minutes.
The eCaravan plane, a modified Cessna Caravan 208B, was created by a collaboration between engine company magniX and aerospace firm AeroTEC. The companies have said the electric plane is more environmentally friendly and costs less to operate than its fossil fuel-powered counterparts.
“As the world’s largest all-electric aircraft, this first flight is a significant milestone in disrupting the transportation industry and accelerating the electric aviation revolution,” magniX said in announcing the flight.
The path to electric commercial flights could be shorter than you think though, as it was only in December 2019 that a smaller plane with a magniX electric engine took its first flight – which only lasted 15-minutes!
