World’s first all-electric commuter aircraft takes to the skies over central Washington

MOSES LAKE, Wash. — History was made when the world’s first all-electric commuter aircraft graced the skies around Moses Lake Tuesday morning.

We first shared this story with you last summer when development and production were still underway.

“The feeling here is electric. We’re absolutely excited about what we’ve just done by flying Alice successfully for the first time,” said Gregory Davis, president and CEO of Eviation.

Eviation is based out of Arlington. Davis says the plane is built to carry nine passengers and one or two pilots, but it will be sometime before commercial flights take to the skies.

“In terms of time to market, the main thing that’s going to get us is the development of the battery technology. We first see a battery technology coming online to power airplanes and the mission profiles we want by 2027,” said Davis.

Davis says it will take several years to get the aircraft certified by the FAA. He says 50% of all domestic general aviation flights travel 500 nautical miles or less; Alice has a range of 440 nautical miles.

“Typically speaking, you’re going to fly for one to two hours in a plane like this rates, maybe a little less even, so that’s, you know, 150 to 250 miles and that’s where we’re looking at bringing our product department,” said Davis.

With the success of the first test flight, Davis says the company will focus on reviewing the data to see how well it matched their models.

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