When Harbour Air’s de Havilland Beaver seaplane first lumbered into the skies in 1956, Elvis’s “Heartbreak Hotel” topped the charts, President Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the White House, and flying icons like the Boeing 747 hadn’t yet been invented.

Sixty-three years of bush flying, commuter travel and made-for-Instagram sightseeing later, the aircraft received a trailblazing retrofit. Harbour Air, a Vancouver-based seaplane operator, earlier this month swapped the six-seater’s gas-guzzling, exhaust-emitting engine for a modern, battery-powered electric one. The move gives the vintage plane a new and sustainable lease on life.

Greg McDougall, Harbour Air’s founder and chief executive, is the driving force behind the project, one that would make the Wright brothers proud — and possibly Elon Musk, too.

“I was an early adopter of the Tesla car and so impressed by their innovation,” Mr. McDougall said. “When I got the car five years ago, I wondered if we could transfer similar electric engine technology to our planes. Someone was going to do it someday, so it may as well be us.”