The Anonymous Widower

Watch First Electric Caravan Fly

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on AOPA.

As AOPA is the Aircraft Owners And Pilots Association, the caravan is a Cessna C208B Grand Caravan, which has been converted to electric power.

I have flown in a Cessna Caravan in Kenya, where it took me from Nairobi Airport to the Maasai Mara.

It is a typical workhorse all over the world carrying up to nine or thirteen passengers or freight.

• They have a single turboprop engine.
• The undercarriage is fixed and very sturdy.
• Around 2,600 had been built by 2017.
• It is used by a variety of operators.

I would certainly be happy to fly in one at any time, unlike some aircraft I could mention.

This paragraph from the article details how the maker of the electric motor;magniX is involved in electric flight.

The Grand Caravan is to be the largest, but not the first commercial aircraft magniX has converted to fly with 100 percent electric power. Roei Ganzarski, CEO of magniX, wrote in an email exchange that the de Havilland DHC–2 Beaver first flown in December continues its test flight program in Canada. Harbour Air, a short-haul air carrier with a fleet of seaplanes, is working with magniX to convert its fleet to all-electric power, and the same 750-hp electric motor that will power the upcoming Grand Caravan flight has been performing well in test flights over British Columbia.

Ganzarski is quoted as saying he is pleased with results to date.

The aircraft is lined up to make its first flight on May 28th, which hopefully will be shown on the Internet.

My flight in Kenya was only about half-an-hour and despite the Caravan having a range of nearly 2,000 kilometres, I suspect that many flights in the aircraft are of similar duration.

A Quick Battery Size Estimate

• 750 hp is 560 kW.
• So a half-hour flight on full power will use 280 kWh plus whatever is needed for aircraft systems like avionics, heating and air conditioning.
• The Eviation Alice electric aircraft seats nine passengers and has a 900 kWh battery according to Wikipedia.

I  would suspect a 900 kWh battery should allow the Electric Caravan to do two half-hour trips.

The Future Of Electric Aviation

It is interesting to note, that four of the projects in designing and building a viable electric aircraft are in this nine-seater segment.

• Eviation Alice, which is a new radical aircraft with three magniX electric motors.
• Harbour Air Seaplanes‘s conversion of a DHC-2 Beaver seaplane using a magniX motor.
• magniX’s conversion of a Cessna Caravan, described in this post.
• Cranfield University‘s conversion of a Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander in Project Fresson.

Note.

• All except Eviation Alice, are conversions of proven high-wing aircraft with a fixed undercarriage.
• Moderately large fleets available for conversion. – Beaver (1,600 plus built), Caravan (2,600) and Islander (700)
• Conversion only needs a Supplemental Type Certificate, rather than full certification.
• The DHC-2 Beaver prototype first flew on the day I was born, so it can’t be all bad.

A detailed insight into the reasons and the economics of converting an existing fleet of aircraft are given in a sub-section called Development in the Wikipedia entry for Project Fresson.

• Scottish Airline Loganair appears to be the launch airline and will use the plane for their short flights around Orkney.
• Several companies are involved in the development.
• First flight is aimed for 2021.
• Conversion kits could be available in 2022-2023.
• It is hoped that operators would get a return on their money for the kit in 2-3 years.

Once they get the design right, there is talk of a nineteen-seat electric airliner.

I can see hundreds of converted electric Caravans and Islanders flying short routes by 2030.

May 21, 2020 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Cessna Caravan, DHC-2 Beaver, Electric Aircraft, Electric Islander, Eviation Alice, Flying, Project Fresson