The Swiss team that created the sun-powered Solar Impulse plane revealed their new fuel-free plane on Wednesday.
The team plans to use the plane in a flight around the world, which will take place next year, according to NBC News.
"It's the most incredible airplane of its time," said Bertrand Piccard, president and co-pilot of the Solar Impulse venture.
Piccard discussed the plane with people who attended Switzerland's Payerne Air Field on Wednesday for the first public appearance of the aircraft.
The plane, named Solar Impulse 2, is the successor of the first plane of the same name, The Local reported. The original finished a trip across the U.S. last year without using any fuel.
"These two airplanes are the most energy efficient airplanes ever designed," co-pilot Andre Borschberg said to officials, diplomats and sponsors at the Payeme airbase in the canton of Vaud.
"The first plane was a prototype, a flying laboratory."
Borschberg added that Solar Impulse 2 is a bigger and better version than the original. The plane has a wingspan of 72 meters.
Test flights are expected to begin in the next month or so, and Piccard and Borschberg are looking to start the round-the-world trip as early as next March, NBC News reported. Solar Impulse 2 is scheduled to take off from the Persian Gulf region and fly over the Arabian Sea, India, Burma, China, the Pacific Ocean, the U.S., the Atlantic Ocean and then southern Europe or North Africa, which would lead to the starting point.
Borschberg said the team is looking to be able to fly for at least 120 hours non-stop around the world, The Local reported.
"We will need at least five days and five nights to fly from China to the US and from the US back to Europe," he said.
Piccard commented on the challenge of the project while also acknowledging the benefits of the trip, NBC News reported.
"It's not the easiest way to fly around the world," he said, "but it's probably the most spectacular way we can achieve today to really attract the awareness of the political world, the media, the industries, the economy, to show what we can do with renewable energy."
