Taking flight aboard the first all-electric plane
A new all-electric plane taking to the skies could change how people and packages fly across the country.
ABC News transportation correspondent Gio Benitez got a bird's eye view on Wednesday aboard the battery-powered aircraft from Beta Technologies, alongside the company's founder and CEO Kyle Clark.
"I was telling people for 20 years that this could change the way we fly," Clark told ABC News. "It's going to change everything."
The electric plane can charge in about 50 minutes for $13 and can be airborne in just 15 seconds, according to the company. Plus, as the plane descends, the force of going down actually recharges the battery.
According to Beta Technologies, the aircraft can travel more than 300 miles on a single charge, which could open the door for quicker medical transport and faster deliveries for companies like UPS and Amazon.
"For carriers like UPS and Amazon, where they fly a lot and they want to bring packages to everybody next-day across the entire country, if they can do that less expensive, their level of service goes up," Clark said.
Beta Technologies said there are two versions of its aircraft, one that can lift off and land vertically like a helicopter and another that takes off on a traditional runway.
"This flight, for about an hour, will cost us about $8 in energy," Clark said, speaking to Benitez mid-flight. "If you compare that to a gas-powered plane, that's 40 times less."
Safety is also a major focus: While it looks like the plane appears to have just one engine, it actually has two hidden behind the propeller.
Clark even demonstrated how the aircraft can continue flying even if one motor fails -- or if both are turned off.
"If one of those motors fails, I can shut it off right now. We'll continue to fly just the same," Clark said. "Or I can shut the other one off ... I'll turn them both off. We're a glider right now."
Aviation is a family affair for Clark and his wife Katie, who also works at the company and said their children grew up around planes.
"Willa flew a plane before she ever drove a car," Katie Clark told ABC News, referring to her daughter Willa Clark, also a team member at Beta Technologies. "My kids were all homeschooled, and so for me, this was free math, free science -- whether they fell in love with aviation or not was a bonus."
Several companies are currently building electric aircraft, all hoping to receive Federal Aviation Administration certification in the coming year.
Last week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy tested one of Beta Technologies' planes, calling the aircraft "the kind of innovation I love to see."
When asked what the famous aviation pioneers the Wright brothers might have to say about his planes, Clark said it's "a humbling question."
"We have a culture here at Beta where we are makers -- we make things from technologies that come from non-aerospace places. That's what the Wright brothers did when they created the first airplane," he said.
Beta said the company can currently build one plane per day at its Vermont factory, and people will begin seeing the aircraft pop up across the country for final tests this September.
Clark added that he envisions a future where electric aircraft are used much like ride-sharing services, with a goal of eventually shuttling people to and from downtown areas in the next decade.
