Eviation's maiden all electric flight earns praise from US lawmakers

Earlier this week, the Alice electric aircraft from Eviation took to the skies for its maiden voyage, hopefully opening the door to zero emission regional flights. Not only will the flights be more environmentally friendly, they'll also greatly reduce noise pollution for people living around airports.

2

The aircraft reached 3,500 feet maximum altitude and flew for eight minutes before landing back at the Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake, Washington. After the MagniX engines were revved up, they sounded about as loud as electric grass trimmers, and provided a responsive experience to fly.

The passenger plane will hopefully support up to nine passengers and their luggage, and will need to finalize a design to be certified by US regulators.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) is one of the US lawmakers fighting for aviation industry leaders to make change and work towards electric aircraft and alternative sustainable fuel sources in the aviation industry. Here is what Greg Davis, CEO of Eviation, said in front of the Senate Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Aviation Safety, Operations and Innovation:

"I thank you very much for your words about changing the industry, changing the world. That's exactly how we see it. It's a very easy game to play to think, where are you right now? And could you find nine people or eight other people who wanted to go 200 or 300 miles away right now? And for Moses Lake to Walla Walla, or to Paine Field as you've just said, those are routes that we will be able to do as the aircraft enters into service. So certainly, the applications and the capability of the technology that goes into the aircraft will allow those routes to expand, and only further improve our capability to transform regional air travel."

Here is a video summary of the first flight of Alice: