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by seabrookmx 2376 days ago
I look at the Harbour Air planes out my office window!

Super neat project, although I agree with other commenters that "fully-electric commercial flight" is misleading.

If I walk down there and book a flight, I'm not going to be in an e-plane. It's still very much experimental.
2 comments
ghostpepper 2376 days ago
If you can see the seaplane terminal in downtown Vancouver from your office then, IMHO, you have one of the best views in the city. Enjoy :-)
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james_pm 2376 days ago
I would get no work done in that office. When in Vancouver, I spend a good amount of my down time sitting at the Convention Centre watching the comings and goings in the harbour.
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seabrookmx 2372 days ago
Victoria actually!
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deepspace 2376 days ago
Yes, when you start digging into the details, it turns out that they filled the plane, a de Havilland Beaver, to the gills with batteries. The batteries physically consume all the interior space, leaving no room for passengers, and they bring the takeoff weight to the max that the (electric) engine can manage.

With all that, the range is 15 minutes, with a 25 minute reserve. That is not even enough to reach Nanaimo, which is the closest town the planes could potentially serve.

So, neat demonstrator but a long, long way off from viable commercial operation.

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Robotbeat 2376 days ago
This isn't true. If you want to keep making these claims, you're going to have to provide a source. For instance, there's plenty of space behind the pilot that is empty. There's plenty of interior space as the batteries are placed below.

Additionally, they are using bulletproof flight-certified batteries which are much lower than the typical good lithium ion batteries used in, say, a Tesla. They're just for the prototype. "“These are batteries that NASA is using, but they’re not batteries that we’d use if we were going to try and make it economical to fly today, because they’re very low in watt-hours per kilogram,” explained McDougall."

The electric motor (not an engine) is 560kW, almost twice the original 336kW radial motor, so it's not in the least underpowered (as you imply).

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