Among the few electric aircraft this week at EAA AirVenture 2024 were two Harbour Air electric de Havilland DHC-2 Beavers, one of which was supposed to be the afternoon flying display on Tuesday, but a rapidly developing rain shower prevented the flight. But with one eBeaver parked at the seaplane base and another on the show grounds, there were plenty of opportunities to see these unique machines at AirVenture. They were both disassembled and shipped to the Oshkosh, Wisconsin venue in containers and then reassembled onsite.
Harbour Air has been working with electric propulsion developer MagniX for many years and first flew the eBeaver in December 2019 from Fraser River in Vancouver, Canada, for an eight-minute flight. The original version was powered by a 500-kilowatt magni500 motor derated to 338 kilowatts to match the Beaver’s 450-hp piston engine. The eBeavers on display at AirVenture have a magni650 capable of 650 kilowatts but are still derated so pilots don’t have to get used to a different power output.
More In Aircraft
