Two Seattle-area airline companies were behind the all-electric first flight of the plane in Moses Lake. The flight took about 30 minutes. AeroTEC, an aerospace engineering and certification company based in Seattle, modified the aircraft for this purpose. MagniX, a Redmond-based startup, designed a lightweight driveline. The magni500 engine uses a closed-loop liquid cooling system. The engine delivers 750 hp (560 kW) at 1,900 rpm and over 2,800 Nm of torque.
There were two tons of lithium-ion batteries and cooling devices in the cabin of the plane, and there was hardly much room for passengers. It was certainly not a cab configuration that made commercial sense. However, the flight proves that an aircraft of this size can be powered by an electric motor.
It is definitely a step towards the future vision of zero emission all electric flight that could become the norm in a range of small commuter aircraft.