The gorgeous Eviation electric plane

 

I've talked about Eviation's elegant and stylish electric plane before.  This report is from New Atlas

After showing off with some extravagant runway wheelies last week, Alice, the "world's first all-electric commuter aircraft," lifted off overnight on a historic first flight. It's another major milestone toward zero-emissions medium-range air travel.

Alice took off at 7.10 am local time from Grant County International Airport in Washington state, and made a short, 8-minute circuit, reaching an altitude of 3,500 ft (1,067 m) before coming in and touching down.

"Today we embark on the next era of aviation – we have successfully electrified the skies with the unforgettable first flight of Alice," said Eviation President and CEO Gregory Davis. "People now know what affordable, clean and sustainable aviation looks and sounds like for the first time in a fixed-wing, all-electric aircraft. This ground-breaking milestone will lead innovation in sustainable air travel, and shape both passenger and cargo travel in the future."

It is indeed a significant moment, although there's a way to go yet. The Alice we see flying in the video below is still an experimentally registered prototype, rather than a fully certified production aircraft. Eviation still has to run it through a full and rigorous flight test regime, and jump through the many hoops of FAA certification, not just for the aircraft and all its systems, but also for the company itself as a design organization and a production facility. The company hopes to have this all squared away and get Alice into service by 2026.

Alice's spec sheet has become a fair bit less impressive over the last year or so as well – when we looked at it in May 2021, this nine-seat luxury machine was running an interesting three-prop propulsion system and a V-tail, and promising 506-mile (814 km) flights to a charge. Now, the tail's a T-shape, there are just two props, the claimed range has dwindled to just 288 miles (463 km), and the max takeoff weight (MTOW) has burgeoned from 14,700 lb (6,668 kg) to 18,400 lb (8,346 kg). On the positive side, the max speed is now up from 253 mph (407 km/h) to 299 mph (481 km/h).

The reduced range in particular is going to sting, as it'll significantly cut down the number of operating routes Alice can handle. But Eviation says this machine's quiet, zero-emissions flight, and its extremely low operating costs compared to turboprops or light jets, will make a good case for it in the commuter and cargo markets.

Eviation electric plane gets first large order

 I've talked before about Eviation's electric plane.  

Now Massachusetts-based Cape Air has signed an order for 75 of these all-electric planes.  Electric planes for short-haul flights are going mainstream, partly because they're so much cheaper to run than jets or jet-prop planes.  Battery energy density is still not high enough for long-distance flights, but short-distance trips are now feasible.

From Geek Wire

A Seattle-area venture called Eviation has struck a deal with Massachusetts-based Cape Air for the purchase of 75 Eviation Alice all-electric planes.

The letter of intent follows up on a claim that was made back in 2019 by Eviation’s then-CEO, Omer Bar-Yohay, who said Cape Air would be his company’s first customer. At the time, Bar-Yohay said the list price for the Alice commuter aircraft would be $4 million per plane — but Eviation said it’s not releasing financial details about the Cape Air deal.

Bar-Yohay left Eviation in February, citing “a longstanding disagreement” with the company’s main shareholder, Singapore-based Clermont Group. Longtime aerospace executive Gregory Davis took over as interim CEO for the privately held company, which is headquartered in Arlington, Wash.

Eviation has begun ground tests of an Alice prototype, and those tests haven’t always gone perfectly — which is to be expected with a totally new type of aircraft. In February, Eviation said Alice’s first flight test would take place “in the upcoming weeks,” but the company now says it plans to reach that milestone this summer.

Alice will be powered by two 850-hp electric motors made by MagniX, a Clermont Group company that’s based in Everett, Wash., close by Eviation’s HQ. It’s designed to carry up to nine passengers and two crew members on zero-emission flights ranging as far as 440 nautical miles (500 statute miles) on a single charge.

If all goes according to plan, Eviation aims to have the production version of the Alice aircraft flying in 2024, with deliveries to follow certification activities.

As a commuter airline, Cape Air is in the sweet spot when it comes to the market for Alice. Although the company is based in Massachusetts, it serves nearly 40 cities in the U.S. (including cities in eastern Montana) and in the Caribbean.

“Truly sustainable aviation not only reduces the impact of air travel on the environment but also makes business sense,” Jessica Pruss, vice president of sales at Eviation, said in a news release. “We are proud to support Cape Air, a recognized leader in regional air travel, to chart a new path in delivering innovative solutions that benefit airline operators, passengers, communities and society.”

Eviation also envisions Alice being used for cargo shipments and for executive business travel. Last year, DHL Express said it was ordering a dozen Alice eCargo airplanes.

Several other ventures are pursuing approaches to electric aviation. MagniX, for example, plans to retrofit seaplanes operated by Vancouver, B.C.-based Harbour Air and is working with other partners as well. Last year, MagniX won a $74.3 million contract from NASA to demonstrate electric propulsion technologies for aircraft.

Meanwhile, Amazon and Alaska Air are investing in ZeroAvia, a venture that’s developing a hydrogen-electric hybrid airplane and is setting up a research and development facility in Everett. Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund has also provided funding for another electric aviation startup called Beta Technologies.

DHL chooses Eviation electric plane

 I did a blog post about the beautiful Eviation electric plane here. 

From CNBC

DHL Express announced Tuesday that it’s purchasing 12 electric cargo planes from start-up Eviation for use in U.S. package delivery as part of a plan to reduce carbon emissions.

“We’re going to spread them out in between the West Coast and the East Coast. These Eviation electric planes will replace some of our current smaller feeder aircraft that we have in those markets,” said Mike Parra, CEO of DHL Express Americas. “This lines up with our commitment to sustainability and the spirit of where we’re heading to a net zero emissions by 2050.”

Eviation is a start-up focused on electric fixed-wing airplanes for cargo and passengers. The Washington state-based company is building the Alice, a plane capable of carrying 2,500 pounds at a maximum speed of 250 mph and go 500 miles on a single charge. Charging time takes around 30 minutes, roughly the same time it takes to put fuel into a similar-sized traditional airplane, according to DHL Express, a division of Germany’s Deutsche Post DHL Group.

“DHL represents a very close-to-the-ideal customer for us,” said Eviation founder and CEO Omer Bar-Yohay. “They have the right footprint in the sense that they use planes of similar size to move parcels around today. This kind of goes hand in hand with what we’re doing at Eviation. We’re building Alice to fit existing business models, to fit existing airports, and to really work within the network of the operator.”

DHL’s U.S. business is primarily focused on importing goods purchased from companies overseas and delivering to business and consumer customers in America. The Alice planes will transport packages from major hubs to smaller markets within range, often referred to as middle mile. DHL Express and Eviation expect the planes to be used for package delivery by 2024.

The Eviation Alice: a stunning electric plane

 From New Atlas

Washington-based company Eviation is preparing for the first test flights of its gorgeous Alice, an all-electric 9-seat luxury plane with an impressive 440 nautical mile (506-mile, 814-km) range from a single charge of its huge 820-kWh battery pack.

The company says it's just taken delivery of its first electric motor, one of three Magnix Electric Propulsion Units the Alice will use to power its three variable pitch pusher props, one on a pod at the end of each wing and a third on the tail. The latter is designed to accelerate fast-moving air around the fuselage and turn the whole body into a bonus wing surface for extra lift.

The prototype is certainly a striking looking aircraft, all space-age looking with its big v-tail and that tastefully squashed high-lift fuselage. Once everything's all hooked up, it'll carry crew and passengers at cruise speeds up to 253 mph (407 km/h), and Eviation says the low noise output of its electric powertrain will make a solid contribution to the comfort factor in the back.

For any electric aircraft, 506 miles is a pretty solid range figure at this point, and in order to manage that the Alice needs to carry a monstrous 8,200 lb (3,720 kg) of lithium-ion battery – more than half of the aircraft's 14,700-lb (6,668-kg) maximum takeoff weight. It's built from the ground up using lightweight composite materials to compensate.

Eviation says the Alice and other early electrics like it will be the start of a price-driven snowball in the aviation business. Similar to electric cars, they'll likely be more expensive up front than a traditional fuel-burning plane due to the high cost of lithium batteries – but their vastly reduced maintenance and fuel costs will make them a ton cheaper to run. Eviation is betting that it won't take too long before fossil burners are struggling to compete – at least in this size class and for shortish flights of 500 miles (805 km) or less.

The Alice runs three variable-pitch electric props, two on the wing tips and one at the tail designed to accelerate air around the body and develop extra lift

A Tesla Electric plane?

Eviation Aircraft prototype –
A new all-electric aircraft with a range up to 600 miles unveiled at Paris Air Show
Source: Electrek

From Electrek:

Tesla CEO Elon Musk [has] started discussing the potential for electric airplanes, which he thinks could be viable in about 5 years.

Could a Tesla airplane be in Musk’s plans?

We are already starting to see electric airplane programs, like the Pipistrel Alpha Electro all-electric plane and the Siemens and Magnus’ eFusion, but battery technology still needs to improve in order to have commercial aircraft like we have today.

Musk has long been talking about all modes of transport going electric at some point – except for rockets.

Years ago, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX even said that he had a design for electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft – though he never elaborated on plans to bring the aircraft to production.

In order for his design to work, Musk said that the energy density of batteries needs to improve.

Musk explains that jet fuel beats batteries when it comes to energy density, but the efficiency gains mean that you don’t need as much energetic potential:

“[Are electric planes possible?] Yes, but still a bit too limited on range. That will change in coming years as battery energy density improves.  Jet A (kerosene) has much higher energy density than Li-ion, but electric motors weigh much less and convert stored energy to motion better than combustion engines.  FWIW, based on calcs I did 10 years ago, cross-over point for Li-ion beating kerosene is ~400 Wh/kg. High cycle batteries are just over 300 Wh/kg today, but probably exceed 400 in ~5 years.”


Today, battery cells with high cycles are achieving about 300 Wh/kg of energy density.

[Read more here]


This obviously applies to short-range (600 miles/1000 kms) electric planes, but does it also apply to long-range and intercontinental jets?  Perhaps for long-range air travel, we need to produce carbon-neutral jetfuel. We can do that, using the Sabatier process.  Elon Musk's SpaceX plans point-to-point suborbital flights which would cut travel times between major cities by 90%.  SpaceX plans to use methane to fuel its BRS/Starship, and plans ultimately to produce the methane using the Sabatier process. Electrek suggests that Tesla won't get more involved in electric planes than manufacturing the batteries for them.  But SpaceX, on the other hand, might look into electric planes.  Because rocket launches and landings are so noisy, spaceports will prolly be out to sea, 30 or 40 kms or more from population centres.  Electric VTOL planes to fly people to the spaceport from nearby cities would be an obvious ancillary business to get into.