Eviation’s nine-seat aircraft could be flying within weeks – if the prototype is operational, it will not only reduce environmental impact, but also make the aircraft cheaper to operate.
Israel’s Eviation unveiled the prototype of the world’s first electric passenger aircraft, the Alice, at the 53rd Paris Air Show 2019. The Alice will be able to carry nine passengers and two pilots in its basic configuration, and will be powered by three electric motors: one on the tail and one on the wings. The Alice can travel roughly 1,000 km at 3,000 metres on a single charge and travel at a speed of 440 km/h – about half the speed of a Boeing 737 by comparison. Of course, the Alice is important not because of its speed or the number of passengers it can carry, but because it can help to green a particular segment of air travel and transport in the longer term.
Cutting emissions from aviation has been on the agenda for a long time, and there are already a number of ideas to decarbonise the sector – most recently we reported on the H2 Clipper, a hydrogen airship that would make freight transport greener, but the UK government is also looking seriously at the future use of hydrogen jets, and sustainable fuel is being mooted as a way to green the current fleet without major modifications. The legion of ideas is of course joined by several incarnations of electric planes, including the subject of this article, Alice, the first all-electric passenger jet.
As reported by CNN, the Alice has reached a major milestone, as it will soon be able to actually take off from the concrete of the runway – the company’s CEO Omer Bar-Yohay told the paper that following last week’s engine test at Seattle’s Arlington Municipal Airport, the Alice is just weeks away from its first flight. The event was originally scheduled for the end of last year, but unfortunately bad weather in the region intervened.
Eviation has developed three prototypes: a commercial version, a luxury version and a version designed for freight transport. The commercial version will carry up to nine passengers and two pilots, while the “luxury edition” will fly six passengers in more comfortable conditions. For the transport of goods, there is a capacity of around thirteen thousand litres. As mentioned, the aircraft is not only environmentally friendly but also reduces operating costs by up to seventy percent. And Eviation already boasts an impressive list of customers – after Cape Air, a regional airline, DHL has already ordered a dozen Alice aircraft, which are expected to be delivered in 2024 – DHL operates a global fleet of more than 280 aircraft, and the Alice will be used for shorter journeys, which will obviously be shorter, one-hour journeys.
NASA and Boeing have already committed hundreds of millions of dollars to the development of electric aircraft, while Airbus has been developing such aircraft in-house since 2010, so this is something that the major players in the sector are also looking at. However, the big question is whether electric aircraft will actually be the future. According to experts interviewed by CNN, this could be a possibility in the near future for regional flights – thanks to ever-improving batteries, electric planes could become a reality on these routes within two or three years.
On a different note, for longer routes and trans-oceanic flights, the technology is, to put it mildly, not yet at the doorstep, so the replacement of major commercial flights with electric aircraft is still a long way off. Moreover, who knows whether some of the many ideas mentioned earlier will not be implemented by then. Experts even cite the lack of regulation as a bottleneck, but this is probably less of a problem than the capabilities of current batteries, or even those in the pipeline.
Source: CNN
Recent article
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
The flying ambulance arrives at lightning speed
Drones News & Articles
Wing and Walmart Join Forces: Ushering a New Era of Drone Deliveries
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
The electric car revolution could continue in the air
Flying Cars News & Articles
What Economic Challenges and Opportunities Might Arise from a World Where Flying Cars Are Commonplace ?
News & Articles Points of interest
NASA’s new passenger craft will make ocean crossings shorter than the time it takes to watch a movie
Electric airplane News & Articles
Pyka’s Game-changing Pelican: Setting New Aerial Agricultural Standards
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
Unmanned aerial taxis flew in a unique formation
Electric airplane News & Articles
NASA’s Innovations: Soaring into an Electrified Flight Future
Drones News & Articles
Redefining Drone Warfare: From Expendable Units to Affordable Mass
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
Could eVTOLs and Air Taxis Replace Public Transport ?
Flying Cars News & Articles
The Dawn of Flying Cars: A Glimpse into the Future of Urban Mobility
Drones News & Articles
Harnessing Nature’s Flight: The Bird-Inspired Drone
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
Navigating the Skies of Tomorrow: Electric Air Taxis Eye the Paris Olympics
Flying Cars News & Articles
Soaring Above: Alef Automotive’s Revolutionary Flying Car Earns FAA Approval
Points of interest
Navigating the Skies: Korea’s PIBOT Set to Outdo Human Pilots
Drones
The Vanguard of Autonomous Flight: XQ-58A Valkyrie
News & Articles Points of interest
China’s JF-22 Hypersonic Wind Tunnel: The Future of Hypersonic Innovation
Drones News & Articles
A New Flight Formation: German Pilots and Drone Swarms
Drones
A New Dawn for Drone Technology: The Hypersonic Revolution
Additional aircraft News & Articles
The Morphobot: An Innovation in Multimodal Robotics
Additional aircraft News & Articles
Blazing Trails in Hypersonic Aviation: Europe’s Destinus Soars to New Heights
News & Articles Points of interest
The Dawn of AI Air Travel: Airbus and its Vision for Autonomy
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
Technological advances in air taxis and flying vehicles are needed to transform public transport
Air taxi News & Articles
Volocopter’s High-Flying Ambitions for the Olympics
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
The Horizon of Aviation: Airbus’ Vision for 2035 and Beyond
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
A Shift in Aviation Licensing and Training
Drones News & Articles
Russia’s Path to Drone Supremacy
Additional aircraft News & Articles
Spectacular Flight of Man-Made Saucers: Unveiling New Horizons of Sky-High Commute
Air taxi News & Articles
Israel’s Pioneering Venture into Drone Transport
Air taxi News & Articles
More efficient air taxis in the future
Air taxi News & Articles
The Coming Electric Air Taxi Revolution: Competing with Train Tickets ?
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
Unveiling the Whisper of Innovation: CycloTech’s Exploration into CycloRotor Noise Levels
Points of interest
Sailing the Skies in Style: Airbus’s Novel Vision for Air Travel
Drones News & Articles
Boosting Agriculture: A Drone Revolution Awaits in Budapest
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
Embracing the Future with Rolls-Royce’s Revolutionary UltraFan Engine
Air taxi News & Articles
Testing of perhaps the most promising air taxi begins
Additional aircraft News & Articles
Navigating the Future: Autonomous Helicopters Soar High
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
Embracing the Future: Seoul’s Leap into Urban Air Mobility
Flying Cars
Toyota takes to the skies: we form an alliance
Drones News & Articles
Toyota Takes to the Skies: Investing in Revolutionary Drone Technology
More articles you may be interested in...
Drones
The Vanguard of Autonomous Flight: XQ-58A Valkyrie
News & Articles Points of interest
China’s JF-22 Hypersonic Wind Tunnel: The Future of Hypersonic Innovation
Drones News & Articles
A New Flight Formation: German Pilots and Drone Swarms
Drones
A New Dawn for Drone Technology: The Hypersonic Revolution
Air taxi News & Articles
The Coming Electric Air Taxi Revolution: Competing with Train Tickets ?
The Dutch company, Electron Aviation, is making a bold promise that is set to disrupt.......... READ MORE
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
Unveiling the Whisper of Innovation: CycloTech’s Exploration into CycloRotor Noise Levels
In the fast-paced realm of aeronautical engineering, the introduction of CycloRotors has heralded a paradigm.......... READ MORE
Points of interest
Sailing the Skies in Style: Airbus’s Novel Vision for Air Travel
Navigating the dawn of a fresh chapter in aviation, Airbus recently shared its audacious plans.......... READ MORE
Drones News & Articles
Boosting Agriculture: A Drone Revolution Awaits in Budapest
The stage is set in Hungary, as it stands on the brink of an exciting.......... READ MORE
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
Embracing the Future with Rolls-Royce’s Revolutionary UltraFan Engine
Just when you thought the apex of innovation had been reached, Rolls-Royce challenges the notion.......... READ MORE
Air taxi News & Articles
Testing of perhaps the most promising air taxi begins
For some of us, the very idea of an air taxi evokes scenes straight out.......... READ MORE
Additional aircraft News & Articles
Navigating the Future: Autonomous Helicopters Soar High
Unmanned helicopters are no longer a concept in some futuristic Sci-Fi novel. They're here, revolutionizing.......... READ MORE
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
Embracing the Future: Seoul’s Leap into Urban Air Mobility
In an audacious move to revolutionize its transport system, Seoul - the bustling South Korean.......... READ MORE