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Heart Aerospace completes first flight of largest battery-electric plane
The 25,000-pound X1 flew for 27 minutes on a megawatt-scale electric propulsion system, at an estimated $5 electricity cost compared with around $3.50 per gallon for U.S. jet fuel.
Heart Aerospace said its 25,000-pound battery-electric aircraft, the X1 demonstrator, completed its first flight using just $5 worth of electricity, with an electric propulsion system delivering more than one megawatt of power, according to OilPrice.
The company said the X1 flew for 27 minutes from Plattsburgh International Airport in New York, climbing to 1,100 feet, and that it uses a 106-foot wingspan, making it the largest fully electric aircraft yet to fly, as reported by Heart Aerospace.
OilPrice notes that the demonstrator is not intended for commercial service, since it does not carry passengers and the flight was focused on proving the propulsion system in the air.
The outlet also pointed to jet fuel costs, saying the $5 electricity cost contrasts with current U.S. jet fuel prices around $3.50 per gallon, and it cited the EIA expectation that wholesale jet fuel would average $3.37 per gallon across 2026, while IATA estimates airlines will spend about $350 billion on fuel this year, accounting for nearly a third of operating costs.