Lynsey Chutel and David B. Torch followed the electric plane over Norway's coast in a seaplane powered by aviation fuel.
As the smooth, white dragonfly of an aircraft flew over the Norwegian coastline, only a low hum could be heard from its engine.
On its tail, a single propeller spun as it soared over fjords, forested hills and salmon farms in the North Sea. Powered by electricity, the Alia CX 300 passed lonely islands, the type of locations that Norway hopes this plane could one day soon connect.
The test flight was the first time an electric plane had flown from one major city to another in Norway, showing that the Scandinavian country is eager to get on board with electric flight.
Norway is Europe's largest oil producer outside of Russia, producing the equivalent of two million barrels a day, most of which it sells to its neighbors in Western Europe, according to its ministry of energy. It is also the world's fourth-largest natural gas exporter, reaching record volumes last year.
But Norway is also planning for a future of diminishing petroleum revenue by investing some of its $1.9 trillion sovereign wealth fund in green energy. More than half of the oil and gas deposits on the Norwegian continental shelf have already been extracted, and without the discovery of new fields, production is expected to begin falling within the next decade.
Now it is aggressively pursuing a nationwide electrification campaign as it tries to reach net-zero emissions -- most of its domestic electricity is already green, and some of its oil and gas fields are already powered by electricity. The country has made the most gains in the transport sector: Last year, nearly 90 percent of the new cars sold here were electric, one of the highest adoption rates in the world.
By electrifying its transportation system, Norway is able to meet its climate goals with little effect to the oil and gas industry, said Thina Margrethe Saltvedt, an analyst at Nordea, a Nordic bank.
"Norway has signed the Paris agreement and must cut emissions," Ms. Saltvedt said. "Electric aircraft have little impact on Norway's existing industry, so this will face little resistance."
Norway is already using electric ferries on the sea, and now the country's airports authority, Avinor, is pushing for electric commercial flights, particularly on what Norwegians call their "milk run routes."
Every day, 560 domestic flights crisscross Norway, and more than three-quarters of them are fewer than 250 miles, according to Avinor. Many of these flights, subsidized by the government, link far-flung islands and remote communities, some high up in the Arctic Circle.
With its five battery packs fully charged, the Alia CX300 set off one morning earlier this month from the coastal city of Stavanger to Bergen. The flight was an experiment by Beta Technologies, the helicopter company Bristow and Avinor to test routes for electric flight.
The plane has a wingspan of 50 feet and can reach a maximum speed of 176 miles per hour. As it gradually climbed into the overcast sky, it left behind the mainland beaches, small island farms, and oil and gas installations at sea.
Two pilots, Jeremy Degagne and Cole Hanson, watched a glowing screen that displayed a map of the terrain below. In the pared-down flight deck, there were no fuel gauges with swinging needles. There was little noise except for the chatter on the radio. On the screen, a bright blue display slowly shrank as the plane's battery packs began to lose their juice.
"The Achilles' heel" of all electric flight is the battery," said Guy Gratton, an aviation professor at Cranfield University in England, who has been watching Norway's electric ambition to understand what it means for the world.
Right now, batteries weigh 50 times as much as the amount of fuel it would take to store the same energy, he said. Another challenge for electric flight is that the planes don't get lighter as the journey progresses, like a traditionally powered plane that burns up fuel as it goes.
Batteries have a finite life span, and experts say the same rapid-charging technology that works for electric cars would quickly degrade the large batteries needed to fly a plane. These batteries will also have to contend with powering a plane through headwinds and icy conditions, which could affect their performance, Mr. Gratton said.
"I am somewhat skeptical about how good their range of endurance and payload will be," he added.
The Alia CX300 was developed in Vermont by Beta Technologies, and aviation experts consider it one of the most promising electric plane projects. It completed test flights in the United States and made its debut at this year's Paris Air Show. Beta Technologies is competing against a growing number of rivals for investment from big airlines and governments like China and the United Arab Emirates. What makes Norway's plans interesting, say aviation analysts, is that the state has injected $5 million to make Thursday's test flight a reality. Next, Norway is planning to spend more to figure out how to adapt many of its 44 airports for electric flight.
Norway's adoption of electric vehicles has paved the way for electric air travel, analysts said. To encourage consumers to go electric, Norway's government provided incentives that made the vehicles cheaper and offered benefits once they were on the road. Market share of new electric vehicles rose from 54.3 percent in 2020 to a record 88.9 percent in 2024, according to Norway's Electric Vehicle Association.
The ubiquity of chargers -- more than 10,100 public chargers in a country of 5.5 million -- not only gave drivers peace of mind but also created a new area of expertise that can be translated to air travel. Within months of announcing the test flight, Norway's airports authority built an electric charging station at the Stavanger airport.
The cables were out of sight; folded away under the tarmac; and the substation was the picture of Scandinavian design; with slim wood paneling hiding its industrial purpose. The plane’s cargo zone was packed with empty cardboard boxes; but the objective is to fly big enough electric aircraft to carry passengers by the end of the decade.
By car, this same 99-mile journey would take more than four hours and two ferries. The Alia can do it in 55 minutes. Norwegians, especially those in remote towns that rely on air travel, have been tracking this project.
Vibeke Persen, a student who was born in a small Arctic town and often travels back from Norway's cities, has flown the "milk run" since she was an infant and still spends hours in island-hopping flights.
"I travel with whatever is cheapest," she said. "If that could be combined with being more environmentally friendly, it would ease my occasionally bad conscience."
Electric aircraft will also be about 30 percent cheaper to run than an equivalent traditionally fueled aircraft, said Simon Meakins, an executive at Bristow. A craft that has no gearbox or hydraulic system and a simpler engine requires less maintenance, he added.
"You take away a lot of moving parts," Mr. Meakins said.
The Alia landed not with the roar of its engines,but to claps from the orange-vested Avinor employees and other airline executives on the tarmac.As the pilots climbed out to applause,the battery indicator hovered around half.
But there was one last test.Would the battery recharge?It was the first time the portable charger at the Bergen airport would be used.
One technician dragged a thick black cable from the charger.Others squeezed their heads into the Alia’s cockpit to watch.When numbers on the screen began to climb,the small crowd erupted into another round of applause.
Mr.Degagne,the Bristow pilot who had been training since July,wasa visibly relieved.
“It’s a very simple and easy aircraft to fly,”he said.“It’s just another aircraft—which is a good thing.”