The companies magniX and AeroTEC have announced the successful maiden flight of what is said to be the world's largest fully electric aircraft, a fully electric Cessna Grand Caravan 208B. The half-hour flight in the US state of Washington apparently went perfectly.


The aircraft is an 18-year-old Cessna Grand Caravan, which was converted by the engineering office AeroTEC to an electric drive with a magni500 electric motor. The electric motor manufacturer magniX took over all developments related to the drive, AeroTEC was responsible for the integration into the aircraft - and also the testing. The test flight took place at the AeroTEC flight test center at Grant County International Airport (KMWH) in Moses Lake in the US state of Washington.

According to the two companies, the eCaravan is the largest electrically powered production aircraft to date. The emphasis here is on production aircraft, some individual pieces such as the “Solar Impulse” or electrically powered military drones are larger. MagniX CEO Roei Ganzarski apparently said at a press conference about the maiden flight that the Cessna Caravan was chosen not because of its record size, but because it was looking for a practical and widely used aircraft type. "Let's make it something like the Tesla of the sky," said Ganzarski.

During the half-hour test flight, AeroTEC test pilot Steve Crane stayed close to the airfield in case of problems. According to Crane, “everything went perfectly”. Ganzarski stated that the electricity for the test flight cost around six dollars - a caravan with the old turboprop engine would have used fuel for 300 to 400 dollars. The eCaravan was more economical than expected. “At the time of the landing, we still had ten percent more energy in the batteries than we had calculated,” said Ganzarski.




But he shouldn't reveal what flight time would have been possible. But that is what the series is all about: With a maximum flight duration of 30-40 minutes, the possible uses of the eCaravan would be limited. Nevertheless, the two partners see a market for the aircraft: the batteries are state of the art in 2019 and would be sufficient to transport four to five passengers over 160 kilometers - including the legally required reserves. Five percent of all commercial airline flights worldwide are shorter than those 160 kilometers or 100 miles. Charging the batteries should be similar to the flight duration - 30 to 40 minutes.

AeroTEC and magniX are working to obtain approval for the eCaravan by the end of 2021. "There is no blueprint for testing and approving electric aircraft," said Lee Human, CEO of AeroTEC. The aim is to be able to fly the 160 km route with a full payload by the end of 2021. The Cessna Grand Caravan 208B can carry a maximum of 14 passengers - instead of currently four to five in the eCaravan. This should be made possible by new rechargeable batteries, such as lithium-sulfur batteries. A switch to fuel cells is also still in the room.

aerobuzz.de , presseportal.de , magnix.aero