The world’s largest all-electric aircraft made its first successful flight on Thursday (May 28).
A Cessna Caravan flew for around 30 minutes before landing back in Moses Lake, Washington, about 180 miles southeast of Seattle.
The nine-seater plane is the brainchild of engine-maker magniX and aerospace firm AeroTEC. In December magniX worked with Vancouver-based Harbour Air to power the first all-electric seaplane. magniX hopes to have the Cessna Caravan entering commercial service next year, making it the largest zero-emissions commercial aircraft in operation.
According to magniX, the eCaravan is currently the world’s largest all-electric commercial aircraft.
“The iconic Caravan has been a workhorse of industry moving people and transporting goods on short routes for decades,” said magniX CEO Roei Ganzarski.
“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.”
The eCaravan is powered by the 750-horsepower (560 kW) magniX magni500 propulsion system. magniX says the eCaravan flight is a critical step in the certification and approval process for the magni500 system.
The magni500 was also used to power the all-electric DHC-2 de Havilland Beaver flown for the first time by Canada’s Harbour Air last December. Of note is that this was originally an Australian development but it is speculated that it was moved to the USA due to excessive regulations which made it “too difficult to certify in Australia.”