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posted by martyb on Thursday December 12 2019, @11:51AM   Printer-friendly
from the worlds-first-commercial-electric-beaver dept.

The Guardian is reporting;

The world's first fully electric commercial aircraft has taken its inaugural test flight, taking off from the Canadian city of Vancouver and flying for 15 minutes.

"This proves that commercial aviation in all-electric form can work," said Roei Ganzarski, chief executive of Australian engineering firm magniX.

The company designed the plane's motor and worked in partnership with Harbour Air, which ferries half a million passengers a year between Vancouver, Whistler ski resort and nearby islands and coastal communities.

The recycled 62-year-old de Havilland Beaver seaplane is designed for short hops of 160 km or less, which represents the majority of Harbour Air flights. They're looking to save millions on costly maintenance and downtime. Harbour Air hopes to convert most of their airplanes after certification.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 13 2019, @08:33AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 13 2019, @08:33AM (#931664)

    One thing to keep in mind about these numbers is that they sound enormous from our perspective. They are not. Currently the worldwide consumption of oil is about 100 million barrels per day. [wikipedia.org] That's trending upwards and as India/China/Africa economically develop it's going to skyrocket upwards. So 50 billion barrels of oil is enough to supply the Earth for less than 1.4 years. And that is, again, at current levels - which are only going to increase. Another reason that increasing demand is paradoxically the best way to kill fossil fuels.