---
title: "Norway’s New Electric Plane Crashes During Demo Flight"
description: "During its debut flight, Norway's electric plane crash-landed into a lake. The country still hopes to electrify all domestic aircraft by 2040."
date: "2019-08-15"
modified: "2019-08-15"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/norways-electric-plane-crashed"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
tags:
  - "electric plane"
  - "the digest"
  - "transport"
---

# Norway’s New Electric Plane Crashes During Demo Flight

![During its debut flight, Norway's electric plane crash-landed into a lake. The country still hopes to electrify all domestic aircraft by 2040.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/norways-electric-plane-crashed.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: AOPALive via YouTube\</em\>*

## Mayday

Norway unveiled its first battery-powered plane during a demo flight before a high-profile crowd on Wednesday.

Unfortunately, for reasons that are not yet fully known, *Reuters* [reports that](<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-norway-crash-idUSKCN1V423N>) the Alpha Electro G2 plane crash-landed in a lake. Though no one was hurt, the crash represents an inauspicious start for the country's plan to electrify all domestic air travel within 20 years.

## Taking A Dip

The plane only carried a pilot, Dag Falk-Peterson, CEO of Avinor, the state-owned aviation company, and one pilot, junior government minister Aase Marthe Horrigmo. *Reuters* reports that Another passenger, Environment Minister Ola Elvestuen, rode the aircraft during a more successful flight earlier in the day.

It remains unclear whether the crash landing was due to inherent flaws with [a battery-powered system](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/close-electric-flight-reality>) or some other glitch.

"I made a mayday call and looked for a place to land," said the pilot, per *Reuters*. "This is not good for the work we do."

**READ MORE:** [Norway's first electric plane crash-lands on lake](<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-norway-crash-idUSKCN1V423N>) \[*Reuters*\]

**More on electric planes:** *[NASA Is Working on Electric Planes Powered by Cryogenic Hydrogen](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-electric-planes-hydrogen>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)