Eviation Alice
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Eviation Alice is an
electric aircraft An electric aircraft is an aircraft powered by electricity. Electric aircraft are seen as a way to reduce the environmental effects of aviation, providing zero emissions and quieter flights. Electricity may be supplied by a variety of methods, ...
designed to accommodate nine passengers and two crew members. First developed in
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
, its construction incorporates 95%
composite material A composite or composite material (also composition material) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or physical properties and are merged to create a ...
, is powered by two
electric motor An electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a electromagnetic coil, wire winding to gene ...
s, and has a
T-tail A T-tail is an empennage wikt:configuration, configuration in which the tailplane of an aircraft is mounted to the top of the vertical stabilizer, fin. The arrangement looks like the capital letter T, hence the name. The T-tail differs fr ...
. The prototype first flew on 27 September 2022.


Development

Eviation was founded in 2015 by Omer Bar-Yohay, Omri Regev and Aviv Tzidon. Risk-sharing partnerships have enabled work to go ahead. In February 2018, a scale model
UAV An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Drone ...
was flown to validate the aerodynamics and
flight control A conventional fixed-wing aircraft flight control system (AFCS) consists of flight control surfaces, the respective cockpit controls, connecting linkages, and the necessary operating mechanisms to control an aircraft's direction in flight. A ...
s. Kokam was selected to supply pouch
lithium polymer batteries A lithium polymer battery, or more correctly, lithium-ion polymer battery (abbreviated as LiPo, LIP, Li-poly, lithium-poly, and others), is a rechargeable battery derived from lithium-ion battery, lithium-ion and lithium-metal battery technology ...
to power the full-scale prototype. Work on the power system and drive train was begun. Eviation teamed up with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to launch a research and development program in the spring of 2019 at its Prescott, Arizona campus. The program would focus on performance analysis, validation and testing, along with preliminary design and sub-scale testing of future electric propulsion and airframe design concepts. By early 2019, Eviation had secured $200 million of investment to cover certification and production while the first prototype was assembled in
Vannes Vannes (; , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, French department of Morbihan, Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, northwestern mainland France. It was founded over 2,000 years ago. History Celtic ...
, northwest France. In April 2019, Eviation selected
MagniX magniX ( ) is an electric motor manufacturer for electric aircraft, wholly owned by Singapore investor Clermont Group. The company is headquartered in Everett, Washington, United States. History The company was founded in 2009 in Australia to r ...
Magni250s 375 shp (280 kW) electric motors turning at 1,900 rpm as an alternative power option to
Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...
260 kW motors. At the June 2019
Paris Air Show The Paris Air Show (, ''Salon du Bourget'') is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in France. Organized by the French aerospace industry's primary representative body, the ''Groupement des industries frança ...
, a full-size static Alice was exhibited. The first airline customer was announced:
Hyannis, Massachusetts Hyannis is the largest of the seven villages in the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. It is the commercial and transportation hub of Cape Cod and was designated an urban area at the 1990 census. Because of this, many refer to Hya ...
-based
Cape Air Hyannis Air Service Inc., operating as Cape Air, is an airline headquartered at Cape Cod Gateway Airport in Hyannis, Massachusetts, United States. It operates scheduled passenger services in the Northeast, the Caribbean and Eastern Montana. ...
. Cape Air ordered 92 aircraft, priced at $4 million each. MagniX investor
Clermont Group The Clermont Group is a Singapore-based conglomerate that includes both operational businesses and Investment, financial investments. Headed by founder and chairman, Richard Chandler (businessman), Richard Chandler, Clermont was established in ...
from Singapore took a 70% stake in Eviation Aircraft in August 2019. By October 2019, over 150 Alice aircraft had been ordered by two American companies. Many orders are backed by firm but refundable down payments. Further investment of $500 million was still needed to begin serial production. On 22 January 2020, a fire broke out and the prototype was destroyed, but no-one was injured. The fire broke out in an under-floor battery compartment located in the "operator/passenger area". On 18 May 2020,
GKN Aerospace GKN Ltd is a British multinational automotive and aerospace components business headquartered in Redditch, England. It was a long-running business known for many decades as Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. It can trace its origins back to 1759 ...
announced their partnership with Eviation on the design and manufacture of the wing,
empennage The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third ed ...
and electrical wiring interconnection system of subsequent Alice airframes.


2021 redesign

By December 2020, Eviation expected to fly a modified Alice design in 2021, with the wing-tip motors relocated, before certification in the second half of 2023. In July 2021, Eviation unveiled the updated configuration with a
T-tail A T-tail is an empennage wikt:configuration, configuration in which the tailplane of an aircraft is mounted to the top of the vertical stabilizer, fin. The arrangement looks like the capital letter T, hence the name. The T-tail differs fr ...
and two 850 hp (634 kW) Magni650 electric powerplants on each side of the aft fuselage, aiming for a first flight the same year. It should cruise at 220 kn (407 km/h, down from 240 kn), have 440 nmi range, 100 nmi (185 km) less than previously, be powered by an 820 kWh lithium-ion battery weighing 3,720 kg (8,200 lb), down from a 920 kWh battery weighing 3,600 kg, would have a 6,350 kg maximum take-off weight, down from 6,668 kg, an altitude ceiling of 32,000 ft and a maximum payload of 1,134 kg. Taxi testing of the first production model began in December 2021 at Arlington Municipal Airport, north of
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
. In June 2022, it was announced that the prototype Alice was being moved to
Grant County International Airport Grant County International Airport is a public use airport located northwest of the central business district of Moses Lake in Grant County, Washington, United States. Formerly a military facility, the airport is owned by the Port of Moses ...
in
Moses Lake, Washington Moses Lake is a city in Grant County, Washington, United States. The population was 25,146 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Moses Lake is the most populous city in Grant County. The city anchors the Moses Lake Micropolitan area, w ...
, where first flight was hoped to occur by the summer of 2022. The aircraft had its first flight on 27 September 2022. Following the first test flight, Eviation announced it has revised the proposed range from 440 nm to 250 nm. The projected service entry date has been delayed to 2027. Before this range reduction,
endurance Endurance (also related to sufferance, forbearance, resilience, constitution, fortitude, persistence, tenacity, steadfastness, perseverance, stamina, and hardiness) is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a ...
at MTOW was planned at 2.8h.


2024 redesign

As no other flights followed the eight-minute September 2022 sortie, in April 2024 Eviation updated the Alice configuration to a constant cross-section tubular fuselage, large winglets, higher propeller pylons, and a larger central energy storage compartment above the wing following the completion of a conceptual design review alongside TLG Aerospace.


2025 Company Leadership Issues

In February 2025, the company announced it would lay off most of its staff among struggles between the company's cofounders and the majority owner of the company, Singapore-based Clermont group. The future viability of the company or the project is unknown.


Design

Two variants of the Alice were originally planned. The initial, unpressurized model was intended for
air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. History The concept of air taxis existed as early as the 1910s. This concept goes back as early as 1917 with Glenn Curtiss’ prototype, the auto-plane. Furthermor ...
operations, with energy stored in a
lithium-ion battery A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are characterized by higher specific energy, energ ...
. Eviation was working on building a prototype scheduled to fly in early 2019. In 2017, a second pressurized model was to be an extended-range ER
executive aircraft Business aircraft are aircraft typically used by companies and corporations to transport people or goods related to the needs of said businesses. Most business aircraft are general aviation aircraft variants of propeller aircraft, piston or ...
available by 2023 for $2.9 million, with a more powerful aluminum-air battery with a
lithium-polymer A lithium polymer battery, or more correctly, lithium-ion polymer battery (abbreviated as LiPo, LIP, Li-poly, lithium-poly, and others), is a rechargeable battery derived from lithium-ion and lithium-metal battery technology. The primary differ ...
buffer, a cabin pressurized to at FL 280, G5000 avionics, a cruise and range. In October 2019, Eviation described only the pressurized Alice Commuter with a cruise speed. With 260 Wh/kg cells, the 900 kWh battery capacity () is initially estimated to give the design a range of at 240 knots and . This is anticipated to increase as battery technology improves. The batteries have been tested to more than 1,000 cycles, equivalent to 3,000 flight hours, They will then require replacement at a cost of $250,000, which is half of the direct
operating cost Operating costs or operational costs, are the expenses which are related to the operation of a business, or to the operation of a device, component, piece of equipment or facility. They are the cost of resources used by an organization just to mai ...
and similar to a piston engine
overhaul Overhaul may refer to: * The process of overhauling, see ** Maintenance, repair, and overhaul ** Refueling and overhaul (eg. nuclear-powered ships) ** Time between overhauls Time between overhauls (abbreviated as TBO or TBOH) is the manufactu ...
. Based on U.S. industrial electricity prices, the direct operating cost with nine passengers and two crew, flying at , is claimed to be $200 per hour, which compares to $600–1,000 per hour for existing aircraft of similar purchase price such as the
Cessna 402 The Cessna 401 and 402 are a series of 6 to 10 seat, light twin-piston engine aircraft.Montgomery, MR & Gerald Foster: ''A Field Guide to Airplanes, Second Edition'', page 108. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992. All seats are easily removable so ...
s,
Pilatus PC-12 The Pilatus PC-12 is a pressurized, single-engined, turboprop aircraft manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Stans, Switzerland since 1991. It was designed as a high-performance utility aircraft that incorporates a large aft cargo door in addi ...
and
Beechcraft King Air The Beechcraft King Air is a line of American utility aircraft produced by Beechcraft. The King Air line comprises a number of twin-turboprop models that have been divided into two families. The Model 90 and 100 series developed in the 1960s ...
, for operations on routes under . 45% of air routes fall within its 565 nmi (1,050 km) range at 260 kn (482 km/h), or 55% of airline flights according to
Flightglobal FlightGlobal is an online news and information website which covers the aviation and aerospace industries. The website was established in February 2006 as the website of ''Flight International'' magazine, ''Airline Business'', ''ACAS'', ''Air ...
's Cirium data. The electric drivetrain will have a higher voltage than current electrical systems. Two Magni650 electric motors will drive two propellers mounted on the aft fuselage. The unpressurized aircraft has a flat lower fuselage. The Italian company
Magnaghi Aeronautica Magnaghi is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alberto Magnaghi (born 1941), Italian scholar of urban planning; * Debora Magnaghi (born 1970), Italian voice actress; * Sara Magnaghi (born 1993), Italian rower; * Simone M ...
supplies
landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...
and has already produced the gear for the similarly sized Piaggio P.180 Avanti. It will be built with existing technology, including a composite
airframe The mechanical structure of an aircraft is known as the airframe. This structure is typically considered to include the fuselage, undercarriage, empennage and wings, and excludes the propulsion system. Airframe design is a field of aeros ...
, propulsion from two Magnix electric engines and
Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building automation, industrial automa ...
's
flight control system A conventional fixed-wing aircraft flight control system (AFCS) consists of flight control surfaces, the respective cockpit controls, connecting linkages, and the necessary operating mechanisms to control an aircraft's direction in flight. ...
s, including automatic landing. At 3,700 kg (8,200 lb), the batteries account for 60% of the aircraft take-off weight. Manufacturing is planned in the US. The company plans for recharging to be carried out by mobile charging vehicles, similar to aviation fuel trucks. Each hour of flight time is expected to require a charging time of 30 minutes. The cells are similar to those from auto industry batteries.


Orders

In 2024, Eviation disclosed it has secured more than 600 letters of intent (LOIs) for aircraft worth an estimated $5 billion, with some of those deals included deposits, the company hopes to begin converting LOIs into firm orders once it has finalised suppliers for the aircraft. The first potential customers for the Alice was
Cape Air Hyannis Air Service Inc., operating as Cape Air, is an airline headquartered at Cape Cod Gateway Airport in Hyannis, Massachusetts, United States. It operates scheduled passenger services in the Northeast, the Caribbean and Eastern Montana. ...
, a regional airline serving the Northeastern United States as well as the Caribbean. In August 2021,
Deutsche Post (, ) is a brand of the DHL Group (listed as ), used for its domestic mail services in Germany. The services offered under the brand are those of a traditional mail service, making the brand the successor of the former state-owned mail monopoly ...
announced that it had ordered 12 aircraft for use by
DHL DHL (originally named after founders Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn) is a multinational Import-Export Expert Company, founded in the United States and headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It provides courier, package delivery, and express mail service, ...
to transport cargo, with delivery planned from 2024. In April 2022, Eviation stated that Cape Air signed a letter of Intent for the purchase of 75 planes. In September 2022, GlobalX Airlines signed a letter of intent for an order of 50 aircraft, with deliveries starting in 2027. In January 2023, Mexican regional carrier
Aerus Aerus LLC, formerly Electrolux Corp. USA, manufactures air and surface purifiers, water filtration and treatment systems, and vacuum cleaners. It is headquartered in Bristol, Virginia and has over 500 independently owned franchises in the U.S. ...
ordered 30 aircraft.


Specifications (intended)


See also

* * *


References


External links

* {{Official website 2020s Israeli business aircraft Electric aircraft Eviation aircraft Twin-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft T-tail aircraft Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear Aircraft first flown in 2022