Absence of Alice

Founded in 2015 by Omer Bar-Yohay, Omri Regev and Aviv Tzidon, Washington State-based Eviation is an aerospace technology concern about the business of developing an all-electric, nine-passenger, regional aircraft to which the company has ascribed the whimsical sobriquet Alice.

Evoking images of a low-wing, flat-bottomed Piaggio Avanti but powered by twin, aft-fuselage mounted, 640-kW (860-HP) magniX 650 Electrical Power Units turning five-blade tractor propellers, Alice is at once familiar and exotic. Eviation claims the aircraft—which has yet to fly—will offer operators a maximum gross takeoff weight (MGTOW) of 16,500-pounds (7,484-kilograms) and a cargo load of 2,500-pounds. Useful load, zero-fuel-weight and other such petrol-centric terms are antithetical to electric aircraft.

Notwithstanding its odd, ellipsoid fuselage, Alice will be offered—eventually—in a pressurized variant which Eviation alleges will reach a service ceiling of FL320 and maintain a 1,200-foot MSL cabin at FL280.

As range and endurance go, Alice is advertised to soldier on for 440-nautical-miles or 2.8-hours at MGTOW. To the subject of speed, Eviation claims Alice will make 220-knots.

On 15 September 2022, Eviation announced that Global Crossing Airlines, an American Part 121, domestic, flag, and supplemental charter airline headquartered in Miami, Florida and operating under the dba GlobalX, had signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) pertaining to the purchase of fifty Alice aircraft. The carrier intends to ply its “Alices to the creation of new passenger routes in its key Florida, Bahamas, and Caribbean markets.

Eviation president Gregory Davis states: “Charter travel is attractive to both individuals and groups as it offers flexibility, privacy and convenience. Alice represents a pioneering approach to making this type of aviation sustainable for generations to come. We are delighted to enter this agreement with GlobalX, whose investment in zero-emissions flight demonstrates the airline’s commitment to cleaner skies, lower operational costs, and the provision of the most innovative options for air travel.”

GlobalX chair and CEO Ed Wegel adds: “Eviation’s Alice aircraft is setting the standard in sustainable aviation, and we plan to offer the aircraft to our cruise line, tour operators, leisure travel providers, and business clients with a need for short-haul charter flights across Florida. The Alice aircraft will allow us to offer sustainable, regional flights to and from major markets, and is the first step in our initiative to be a zero-carbon emissions airline by 2050.”

Eviation’s mission statement precociously proclaims the company’s aspiration to build beautiful electric airplanes using advanced technology and impeccable design, imagined and built by a committed and expert workforce. Mr. Davis, Eviation’s genial CEO, asserts: “Eviation is all about expanding human possibilities by changing the way we think about air travel.” Eviation’s company website puts forth: The US Federal Aviation Authority [sic] (FAA) and European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) are ready to certify those aircraft that meet the highest standards in safety and viability. That these statements comprise a poetic syncretism of optimistic resolve and ignoratio elenchi is self-evident. That they can be fashioned into a working aircraft remains to be seen.

To date, Eviation—despite $700-million in venture capital and hundreds of standing aircraft orders—has yet to produce a flying prototype. What’s more, Alice’s development has suffered serious setbacks, including numerous redesigns, and an under-floor battery fire that destroyed the Alice prototype. A new prototype was expected to fly in the summer of 2022, but has yet to begin high-speed taxi-testing.

In June 2022 it was announced that the Alice prototype was being transported from Arlington Airport (AWO) north of Seattle to Moses Lake Airport (WA40) in Eastern Washington State.

FMI: www.eviation.co