Elfly - All Electric Airline - Curt Lewis

Alice på Le Bourget - Foto: Per Gram

Cape Cod-based airline plans to fly all-electric plane

HYANNIS - Cape Air is on course to become one of the first commercial airlines in the world to operate an all-electric aircraft on its regional routes.

Eviation Aircraft, a startup company based in Israel, unveiled a prototype of an electric airplane at the Paris Air Show last month, announcing that Cape Air would be its first customer.

"It's a really great airplane," Daniel Wolf, founder and CEO of Cape Air, said.

The sleek-looking plane, called Alice, is a nine-passenger aircraft that can fly at 240 knots with a range of up to 650 miles on a single charge, according to a statement from Eviation.

"The race is on," Wolf said of the introduction of all-electric aircraft. "They are the lead development company working on the size of plane Cape Air operates. It's perfect."

Eviation, which already had been working with the Federal Aviation Administration, was searching globally for a launch partner and approached Cape Air because of its route structure, according to Wolf.

Cape Air is one of the largest independent regional airlines in the nation, serving 35 cities in the U.S. and the Caribbean, including Hyannis, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and Provincetown.

Integration of the Alice aircraft into its fleet will require an infrastructure investment for Cape Air, including proper charging capacity equipment and specialized maintenance and support needs for the new technology, Wolf said.

Cape Air, which has been recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency for its sustainability efforts, plans to charge the new aircraft in Hyannis with solar energy generated at Barnstable Municipal Airport, as well as with wind energy from the Vineyard Wind project, Wolf said.

"The beauty is that this is an electric plane being charged with solar and wind power," he said. "It's sustainable, and there's no negative footprint. And the plane will be quieter, too - it's kind of the perfect picture."

Eliminating fuel costs likely will provide a significant cost savings to the airline and the flying public. Wolf estimates, depending on the cost of electricity, that the cost of operating one of the all-electric planes could be as low as $200 per hour.

On its website, Eviation touts traveling between Martha's Vineyard and Boston "in no time" - a 20-minute flight - as how it is "bridging distances and opening a range of new destinations accessible for on-demand transportation by enabling emission-free air travel for the price of a train ticket."

Eviation says it is conducting test flights this year and pursuing certification in 2021, with a goal of shipping the aircraft to carriers for commercial use in 2022.

But Wolf says that may be an ambitious goal to get the aircraft up and running on Cape Air routes.

"I think it is more realistic that we will be able to operate (Alice) in commercial service in 2023 or 2024," he said.

Eviation said in Paris that Cape Air has a double-digit purchase option for the Alice aircraft. As an early adopter and partner, Cape Air will be involved in customer convenience and comfort features in the plane's development process, according to Wolf, who referred questions regarding the price of the aircraft to Eviation.

A phone call and email message to Eviation's San Francisco-based communications agency had not been returned as of late Wednesday.

Several media reports from the Paris Air Show said the aircraft would have a list price of approximately $4 million.