THE planet’s “largest all-electric commercial aircraft” has completed its maiden flight, the latest example of a zero-emission form of transport taking to the skies.

The nine-passenger Cessna 208B Grand Caravan took off from an airport in Moses Lake, Washington, on Thursday and used a 750-horsepower all-electric motor developed by a Redmond-headquartered company called magniX. Work to convert the aircraft was undertaken by magniX and another firm called AeroTEC.

“The iconic Caravan has been a workhorse of industry moving people and transporting goods on short routes for decades,” Roei Ganzarski, the CEO of magniX, said in a statement Thursday.

“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,” Ganzarski added.

“These electric commercial aircraft will enable the offering of flying services of people and packages in a way previously not possible.”

The historic flight was captured on livestream and watched by social media users around the world. MagniX is hoping to have certification for the propulsion system by the end of 2021, with the aircraft possibly certified to operate commercially as early as 2022.

Thursday’s flight represents another step forward for electric aircraft, albeit a small one. In December 2019, the world’s first fully electric aircraft for commercial flight completed a test in Canada. The DHC-2 de Havilland Beaver seaplane used in that flight was also fitted with a motor from magniX.

According to the International Council on Clean Transportation, “commercial aviation accounts for about 2 percent of global carbon emissions.” For the transportation sector as a whole, it’s responsible for around 12 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions.

In a bid to reduce the environmental impact of aviation, some airlines, such as KLM, have used bio-fuels to power their planes. The last few years have also seen a number of innovative aircraft complete journeys.

In 2016, the Solar Impulse 2, a manned aircraft powered by the sun, managed to circumnavigate the globe without using fuel. The trip was completed in 17 separate legs.

In 2018, an unmanned solar-powered aircraft from European aerospace giant Airbus completed a maiden flight lasting 25 days, 23 hours and 57 minutes.

(SD-Agencies)