Among the few electric aircraft showcased at EAA AirVenture 2024 were two Harbour Air electric de Havilland DHC-2 Beavers. One was scheduled for an afternoon flying display on Tuesday, but a rapidly developing rain shower prevented the flight. Despite this, attendees had ample opportunities to view these unique machines at AirVenture, with one eBeaver parked at the seaplane base and another on the show grounds. Both aircraft were disassembled and shipped to Oshkosh, Wisconsin in containers before being reassembled onsite.
Harbour Air has collaborated with electric propulsion developer MagniX for several years, first flying the eBeaver in December 2019 from Fraser River in Vancouver, Canada, for an eight-minute flight. The initial 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 feature a magni650 capable of 650 kilowatts but are still derated to ensure pilots do not need to adjust to different power outputs.
An electric airplane capable of short flights while carrying its usual load of one pilot and five passengers aligns well with Harbour Air's operations. “We were very unsure at the time that this was going to be able to be commercialized,” said Erika Holtz, Harbour Air’s lead engineer for the electrification program. “Our predictions originally were that we would only be able to have an eight-minute flight, which is not really [commercially viable] for flying passenger aircraft.”