After doing some wheeling on the runway last week, Alice billed as “the world’s first all-electric commuter aircraft,” made its historic first flight overnight. This is another important milestone toward zero-emissions medium-haul air travel.
Alice took off at 7:10 a.m. local time from Grant County International Airport in Washington state and made a short 8-minute flight. The aircraft is said to have reached an altitude of 3,500 feet (1,067 meters) before approaching and landing.
Gregory Davis, president and CEO of Eviation, said, “Today, we begin the next era in aviation – we have successfully electrified the skies with Alice’s first flight. People now know what affordable, clean and sustainable aviation looks and sounds like, for the first time in a fixed-wing, all-electric aircraft. This groundbreaking milestone will lead innovation in sustainable air travel and shape the future of passenger and cargo travel.”
This is indeed a momentous occasion, but clearly there is still some way to go. The Alice seen flying in the video below is still an experimentally registered prototype, not a fully certified production aircraft. eviation still has to pass a comprehensive and rigorous flight test regime and pass many certifications from the FAA – not only for the aircraft and all its systems but for the company itself as a design agency and production facility. The company hopes to have it all worked out and have Alice in service by 2026.
Alice’s spec sheet has also become less impressive over the past year or so – when seen in May 2021, the nine-seat luxury machine was running a three-propeller propulsion system with a V-shaped tail and promised to fly 506 miles (814 kilometers) on a single charge. Now the tail has become T-shaped with only two propellers, the claimed range has shrunk to just 288 miles (463 km) and the maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) has increased from 14,700 lb (6,668 kg) to 18,400 lb (8,346 kg). On the positive side, top speed has now been increased from 253mph (407km/h) to 299mph (481km/h).
The reduction in range will especially sting, as it will significantly reduce the number of operational routes Alice can handle. But Eviation says the machine’s quiet, zero-emissions flight and extremely low operating costs compared to turboprops or light jets will give it an extremely competitive edge in the commuter and cargo markets.
