Harbour Air's successful test-flight of a battery-electric seaplane near Vancouver
Dec 24, 2019, 12:26 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 396
Harbour Air's successful test-flight of a battery-electric seaplane near Vancouver
If you aren't familiar, Harbour Air is an airline based near Vancouver, Canada that mainly operates De Havilland Beavers, Otters, and Twin Otters. They have an overall strategy of converting almost all of their fleet to battery-electric over the coming years and recently had a successful test-flight earlier this month.
They are reporting a test-flight configuration useful range of 60 miles (with a 30 minute reserve), enough for about half of their current route network. They see 120 miles (enough for the vast majority of their route network) as easily achievable with currently available commercial batteries, although more testing seems necessary to ensure the stability of the more energy-dense battery chemistries.
Promotional photo of the test-flight from the Harbour Air website
Additional details as well as some promo videos and news coverage:
https://cleantechnica.com/2019/12/23...ica-interview/
Shockingly, the points-bloggers that go nuts for a single plane in a special livery haven't found this to be of much interest... 😉
They are reporting a test-flight configuration useful range of 60 miles (with a 30 minute reserve), enough for about half of their current route network. They see 120 miles (enough for the vast majority of their route network) as easily achievable with currently available commercial batteries, although more testing seems necessary to ensure the stability of the more energy-dense battery chemistries.
Promotional photo of the test-flight from the Harbour Air website
Additional details as well as some promo videos and news coverage:
Shockingly, the points-bloggers that go nuts for a single plane in a special livery haven't found this to be of much interest... 😉
Dec 25, 2019, 10:00 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 396
That's true.
I suspect a lot of potential seaplane operations are constrained by local environmental concerns over noise and kerosene fumes. Perhaps something like this could open up some locations for operations that are untenable due to local complaints about the noise in addition to the hoped-for favorable operational economics.
I suspect a lot of potential seaplane operations are constrained by local environmental concerns over noise and kerosene fumes. Perhaps something like this could open up some locations for operations that are untenable due to local complaints about the noise in addition to the hoped-for favorable operational economics.
