One more step towards a cleaner aviation sector?
An all-electric plane dedicated to passenger transport has just successfully completed a flight without emitting CO2.
The feat was achieved on September 27, departing from Paine Field airport (Washington State, United States).
The plane, called “
Eviation Alice
” and developed by the Israeli company of the same name, reached an altitude of 3,500 feet (about 1,000 meters), before landing eight minutes after takeoff: “
It's historic.
You have to go back to the 1950s to see such a technological evolution
,” Eviation president Gregory Davis told CNN.
Note that
Alice
is not the first commercial electric aircraft to successfully fly;
the feat dates back to 2019 and the maiden flight of a seaplane developed by Harbor Air and American electric motor manufacturer magniX.
Read alsoCrisis in the air: three tips for successfully flying despite everything
Guaranteed flights with zero CO2 emissions
The aircraft is normally designed to accommodate nine passengers and two pilots.
Characteristic of this jewel of technology: it is propelled by two electric motors powered by a rechargeable battery.
In other words, the aircraft emits no CO2 emissions in flight.
The aircraft should be able to fly a distance of between 150 and 250 miles (between 240 and 400 kilometers) and at a maximum speed of 250 knots (about 463 km/h).
A version specially designed for freight transport can even carry up to more than one tonne of payload.
With one hour of autonomy and thirty minutes of recharging on its
Alice
model , Eviation aims to transform the transport of air passengers.
The company praises the merits of its device, which is much less noisy and supposedly cheaper to fly due to the absence of kerosene.
For now, the aircraft is still undergoing a battery of tests to obtain Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification by 2025. If this schedule is respected, Eviation hopes to have
Alice
enter service in 2027. If the project does not short by then.
Read alsoDiscover the initiatives and actors of change in Le Figaro tomorrow