Eviation has completed the conceptual design review for its all-electric Alice commuter airplane following a redesign. The company's April 24 announcement came nine months after it outsourced design work to Seattle-based engineering firm TLG Aerospace, and 19 months after it conducted its first and only test flight so far with an earlier iteration of the nine-passenger model.
Eviation's new CEO, Andre Stein, who joined the company in January after stepping down as CEO of Eve Air Mobility, declined to offer a projected timeline for flight testing and certification, but he told AIN that he expects the Alice to be in service by the end of the decade.
A digital rendering of the newly redesigned Alice shows an aircraft that looks a lot like the model that flew in September 2022, with the only obvious difference being the shape of the fuselage. While the previous Alice featured a tapered, ellipse-shaped fuselage, the new Alice has a constant cross-section, which gives it a more typical tube-like shape. This configuration simplifies manufacturing and maintenance processes while making it easier for Eviation to add upgrades or introduce new variants of the aircraft in the future, Stein explained.
In addition to reshaping the fuselage, “We have bigger wings and bigger control surfaces, and we have increased the maximum takeoff weight to allow for more batteries,” Stein said. A large battery compartment is centrally located inside the fuselage, above the wing, and behind the last row of seats. This compartment provides easy access for battery replacements and maintenance, and it can accommodate different types of batteries, which “helps to future-proof the aircraft,” he said. “If there is an evolution and the future battery has a different shape, for example, we have more wiggle room. Having one single larger compartment in the middle allows for that.”
The redesigned Alice also has an updated interior that’s more optimized for space, Stein said. The new configuration provides overhead bin space for passengers to store their luggage—a feature that’s common in large airliners but relatively rare for small commuter airplanes. Eviation added this feature as a result of discussions with its customer advisory board, Stein said.
The Alice is designed to carry nine passengers or up to 2,500 pounds of payload to distances up to 250 nm. Eviation originally said the Alice would have a range of 440 nm, but it reduced that estimate by almost half on the day of the first flight, citing the need for advancements in battery technology to support requirements for additional energy reserves.
“Part of the conceptual design is exactly to address these issues and assure we are optimizing the performance of the aircraft to achieve this,” Stein said, adding that he is confident in the projected range and payload capacity with the current battery technology.
Alice Supplier Selections Coming Soon
Stein said Eviation is “laser-focused” on developing a production-conforming aircraft and intends to select suppliers this year. Although the company had previously appointed suppliers for the other Alice prototype, it has not confirmed that any of those prior suppliers will remain on board following the redesign.
In addition to MagniX’s electric propulsion units, Eviation previously appointed GKN Aerospace to supply the wings, empennage, and electrical wiring interconnection systems, with Honeywell’s BendixKing division supplying key elements for the flight deck, including touchscreen displays and fly-by-wire controls. Eviation has also brought on Parker Aerospace to develop six technology system packages, including cockpit controls, electromechanical flaps, and the thermal management system.
“A lot of the suppliers that were on the other prototypes are potential suppliers,” Stein said. “We will be defining that throughout the year.”
This marks the second time that Eviation has redesigned the Alice aircraft since it revealed the initial concept in 2019. When Eviation revealed the previous redesign in 2021, a press release referred to that model as the “production configuration” that the company aimed to bring to market in 2024. By the time that aircraft made its first flight, the projected date for service entry had slipped to 2027.
Now, Stein says the Alice that made the historic flight in September 2022 was “just a technology demonstrator”—not a production-representative version of the vehicle. “The technology has been demonstrated, the concept has been proven, and the focus now is really on the production aircraft development.”
Eviation boasts a backlog of prospective sales it said exceed $5 billion in value, with many of those orders backed by firm but refundable down payments, Stein told AIN. Customers include DHL Express, German regional airline start-up Flyvbird, South Korean leasing company Solyu, aircraft leasing group Monte, Massachusetts-based regional airline Cape Air, Australia’s Northern Territory Air Service, Air New Zealand, Mexican regional airline Aerus, German regional airline Evia Aero, and Miami-based charter and cargo flight provider GlobalX.
Stein added that Eviation is comfortable with its current financial situation, as the company's majority stakeholder Clermont Group has been providing all the funding needed for the Alice's development. The company is not actively hiring at this time and is instead relying on contractors like TLG to advance engineering work.