In December, aviation history was made as the first commercial airline flight with paying passengers took off and landed… using an all-electric motor! The Harbor Air plane is a retrofitted de Havilland Canada Beaver. If lifted off from Vancouver Harbour… signaling aviation’s future when the startup MagniX’s Magni500 electric motor powered the Beaver into the air.

MagniX’s smaller engines – the Magni250 — will power Israel-based Eviation Alice aircraft. Specifically designed to be electric powered, the Alice holds nine passengers. At the Paris Air Show this past June, Cape Air from Massachusetts placed the first firm order for the Alice, a plane expected to fly in 2020 and be available for commercial service in 2022. It is expected to have a range of 600 miles, six times the retrofitted Beaver’s 100-mile range.

Pound for pound, batteries pack far less energy than aviation fuel; the latter has 40 times as much energy. Batteries relatively low power densities remains the limiting factor in their use for aviation. Hybrids may be the interim step, preceding all-electric jetliners. Airbus is considering offering a hybrid option for is single-aisle A 320. Boeing is pursuing hybrid as well.

In the meantime, all-electric options for short hauls may well make sense. All electric planes like the Alice promise to slash operating costs; they are 60 – 80% cheaper to operate than fossil-fuel aircraft. While a 100-mile flight in a Cessna Caravan would cost ~$300 in fuel, it would require only $6 – 12 of electricity. Maintenance costs are lower for electric motors as well.