DHL Orders 12 Electric Cargo Planes

International courier DHL is set to embrace electric flight by ordering 12 all-electric cargo planes from Eviation.

We're still getting use to the idea of all vehicles on the road eventually ditching gas for batteries, but the same transition is beginning to happen in the air, too. In April, UPS ordered 10 electric aircraft from Beta Technologies, and now DHL is making a similar move.

DHL selected Eviation to supply it with a dozen Alice aircraft, which are capable of flying 440 nautical miles on a single charge while carrying up to 2,500 pounds of cargo. They only require a single pilot and can be configured to carry up to nine passengers, but DHL will be focused on filling them with cargo rather than people.

Recharging Alice takes 30 minutes per flight hour and can occur as the plane is unloaded/loaded for the next flight. DHL sees the small aircraft as a good fit for feeder routes, while also offering the benefit of increased reliability and reduced maintenance thanks to the "advanced electric motors" having fewer moving parts than traditional piston and turbine aircraft.

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Alice is set to take its first flight before the end of 2021, but DHL doesn't expect to add the aircraft to its DHL Express network until 2024. The company is investing $8 billion to reduce its carbon emissions by 2030, with the focus being on "electrification of last-mile delivery fleet, sustainable aviation fuels and climate-neutral buildings." So this could just be the first of a number of all-electric aircraft orders over the coming years.