Powered by a magniX electric propulsion system, the eCaravan , the world’s largest fully electric commercial aircraft, successfully completed its first half-hour test flight on May 28.
You can see it in action in the following video.
Cessna 208B Grand Caravan
This electric version of the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan originated and was destined for the Moses Lake Airport, in the state of Washington, it can carry up to 13 passengers. The batteries are mounted in the aircraft cabin so that engineers and technicians have easy access. As Lee Human , CEO and President of AeroTEC explains:
This 30-minute flight would have cost us $ 6 in electricity compared to $ 300-400 in fuel, and the Cessna 182 pursuit plane was louder than the eCaravan.
As he describes himself, an ‘electric power evangelist’, Human points to the environmental, operational and maintenance benefits of electric flight, along with the powertrain’s low-noise footprint .