Eviation Aircraft expects to start testing the prototype of its Alice all-electric aircraft during 2021. Speaking on December 15 at the International Aerospace Innovation Forum organized by Aero Montreal, cofounder and CEO Omer Bar-Yohay said that the prototype features some modifications made to the aircraft since it was unveiled at the last Paris Air Show in June 2019.
The Israel-based company had intended to start flight testing in December 2019. The program was further delayed when a fire broke out in the first prototype's batteries during ground tests on January 22 at Prescott Regional Airport in Arizona.
Bar-Yohay said that work has continued on the program throughout this year. He said that three prototypes will be used for flight testing as Eviation pursues what he described as an “aggressive” push to complete type certification under Federal Aviation Administration Part 23 rules by the end of 2023. This will represent a delay of around 12 months compared with the initially projected timeline.
“We have had some hurdles and development difficulties,” said Bar-Yohay, while not elaborating on the cause of the fire and any lessons that may have been learned from it. According to a report by the Prescott Fire Department, the fire broke out in Alice’s lithium-ion batteries, which are part of the electric propulsion system developed by Eviation’s sister company MagniX. “Batteries don’t like to get to 60 C [Celsius] and up,” he said.
According to Eviation, the nine-passenger Alice will be suitable for regional airline services and other applications, such as business aviation. The company claims that the aircraft will deliver significant cost savings for both fuel and maintenance.
The company expects the all-electric aircraft is likely to have direct operating costs that will be 30 to 50 percent less than for similar-sized aircraft powered by turbofan or turboprop propulsion systems. "Our demonstrator operates for an hour, let’s say, a cruise hour would be something like anywhere between $230 and $250 in direct operating costs," Bar-Yohay said. "And that’s for the demonstrator. That’s before including any cost reductions due to serial production."
On December 15, Curtiss-Wright announced it has been selected by Eviation to provide primary flight control actuation systems for the Alice. The U.S. company's Actuation Division said it will provide, "a modular, distributed solution that enables flexible control architecture," from its existing commercial-off-the-shelf product range.
Other confirmed Alice program partners include Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (test flight support and development work), Siemens (now owned by Rolls-Royce) and MagniX (electric motor suppliers), Carboman Group (composites for fuselage), Hartzell (variable pitch propellers), Maghaghi Aeronautica (landing gear), Honeywell (flight control and thermal management systems), and Kokam (batteries).
Eviation has previously referenced an anticipated unit price of $4 million for the Alice. However, the company now says it will be publishing a purchase price at a future date.
