A team of French engineers has for the first time ever successfully test-flied an electric plane, Anne Lavrand, who has been at the helm of the project dubbed Electra, said on Sunday.

The aircraft, an "Electra F-WMDJ, equipped with a 25 HP electric motor and lithium-polymer batteries, conducted a flight of 48 minutes from an airport in Hautes-Alpes, Lavrand said, adding that this flight had been authorized by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

The plane, created by engineers as part of the Association for the Advancement of Electric Motor-powered Aircraft (APAME), was a single-sitter with an unmanned weight of 155 kg and a wingspan measuring nine meters.

"This exceptional technological breakthrough in the luxury aviation sector is capable of providing an alternative to the current unprecedented use of heat engines on aircraft that require between 15 and 50 HP," the engineers, who are working on the project, said in a statement.

The team of five people, who worked on the project for a year and a half, received the support of the Eurocopter and Capenergies, a group of companies dedicated to the promotion of energy sources free of greenhouse gas, according to Lavrand.