The world’s first all-electric passenger plane, called ‘Alice’, is getting ready to take flight. Manufactured by the Israeli company Eviation, the plane underwent engine testing last week at Arlington Municipal Airport, north of Seattle.
Eviation’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Omer Bar-Yohay, stated that Alice is just weeks away from its first flight.
With 30 minutes of charging, the nine-passenger aircraft can fly for one hour, covering nearly 440 nautical miles on battery technology similar to that of an electric car or a cell phone. It can cruise at a maximum speed of 250 knots (287 miles/461.8 km per hour) while the maximum cruise speed of a Boeing 737 is 588 miles (946.2 km) per hour.
Eviation focuses exclusively on electric air travel and claims that electric planes with a capacity of 20 to 40 passengers could be a reality in seven to ten years.
A prototype of the Alice was unveiled in 2019 and has been undergoing low-speed taxi tests since December. It will now perform a high-speed taxi test in the coming weeks. The tests involve the plane being sent down the runway at various speeds to test its power and to allow ground crews to monitor functions like the steering, braking, and anti-skid systems.
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The company had planned to fly the Alice before 2022 but testing was impeded by bad weather in the Pacific Northwest at the end of last year.
Eviation has built three prototype versions: a commuter, executive, and cargo variant.
Nine passengers and two pilots, as well as 850 pounds of cargo, are accommodated in the commuter configuration that is being tested. The executive version includes six passenger seats for a spacious and more comfortable traveling experience, and the cargo version has a volume of 450 cubic feet.
All of this is feasible while cutting commercial jet maintenance and operating expenses by up to 70 percent, according to the aircraft maker.
While modern aircraft makers seem to be getting closer to battery-powered air travel for some operations, not everything seems quite ready for the transition. For one, current science still needs a lot of advancements for work on jumbo jets and cross-ocean flights.
Second and most important for electric aviation is regulation. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is yet to issue clear standards or a regulatory framework for electric airplanes, which fall under the Advanced Air Mobility category, while Eviation claims to be actively working with the FAA to attain production certification by 2024.
“Some certifications could require the FAA to issue special conditions or additional airworthiness criteria, depending on the type of project. Determining qualifications for these aircraft is an ongoing process,” a spokesperson for the FAA explained.
