Dec 11th, 2018: Eviation’s Alice

[xoxoxoBruce]

♫All the young pilots love Alice
♪Slender young Alice, they say
♫Fly over and see me
♪Fly over and please me
♫Alice, it's my turn today

Alice is exiting because she’s electric, sleek carbon fiber, entertains nine, and a cheap date.

An all-electric mini-airliner that can go 621 miles on one charge and replace many of the turboprops and light jets in use now—flying almost as far and almost as fast but for a fraction of the running costs—could be in service within three years. But this isn’t another claim by another overoptimistic purveyor of electric dreams. It’s using current technology, and the first planes are being built right now. In fact, the process of gaining certification from aviation regulators for what would be the world’s first electric commuter plane has already started.

The pressurized Alice from Israeli company Eviation is a graceful-looking composite aircraft with one propeller at the rear and another at the end of each wing, placed to cut drag from wingtip vortices. Each is driven by a 260 kW(350hp) electric motor, and they receive power from a 900 kWh lithium ion battery pack.

Alongside its 650 mile range, the pressurized $3 million-plus Alice can carry nine passengers and two crew, and cruise at 276 mph – up there with the speed of the turboprops that are widely used in the commuter role, if not anywhere near that of jets. But crucially, says Eviation chief executive Omer Bar-Yohay, “operating costs will be just 7 to 9 cents per seat per mile,” or about $200 an hour for the whole aircraft, against about $1,000 for turboprop rivals.

Expected to be available certified in 2021 it’s being designed with the idea that eventually to fly without a pilot.
It will also fly without me.

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