Electric regional airline in works

Eviation’s Alice is designed to be an electric regional airliner that hauls nine passengers plus two crew at 260 knots for up to 650 nautical miles with reserves at a cabin pressurized to 4,000 feet at Flight Level 300.

The clean-sheet design features unique attributes:

• Kokam, a leading battery manufacturer based in South Korea, has been contracted to supply a battery built from many cells, each capable of being isolated if there is a problem within the system. It can power the aircraft with just one cell, albeit not for very long.
• A 53-foot wingspan provides a more efficient, unique wing.
• The fuselage was purposely designed as a lifting body.
• Hartzell propulsors (what we would call propellers) are part of the electric propulsion system.
• Honeywell flight controls were specially designed for an all-electric regional airliner.
• The aircraft features centerline thrust, but two small electric propulsors at the wingtips provide yaw and roll that when coordinated correctly in flight with the tail-mounted ailerons (elevons), result in a sideward slip with significantly reduced banking required. The methodology is called the zero-roll crosswind landing concept. This system allows for crosswind landings with little or no bank.
• The electric motors are specifically built for flight and will feature a triple-redundant internal component design. That includes controlling the motors electronically with a system that allows 100 input corrections per second, helping make zero-roll crosswind landings possible. This technology has been proved in flight tests with crosswinds of 10 knots. The design parameters call for the final aircraft to exceed 30 knots of crosswind.
• Full and constant electronic systems monitoring and control for improved safety.
• Operational plan includes reuse of the batteries, depending on their health and remaining life.

The aircraft is nearing completion of ground testing, and flight tests are underway in France with plans to expand testing to a facility in Prescott, Arizona. The aircraft is scheduled to be formally introduced at the Paris Air Show in June.

–By Mike Coligny

Mike Coligny is a 50-year AOPA member. He is the founder and partner of CFS & Associates, LLC and holds an airline transport pilot certificate.