Eviation Alice (Electric Regional Airliner)

https://www.seattletimes.com/busine...p-halts-operations-in-blow-to-green-aviation/
Damn. They ran out of time and money. I really wanted them to succeed but the writing was on the wall for a long time. Battery density simply isn't good enough for a viable 9 seat commuter aircraft nor will it considerably improve within the near future. Other established players like Tecnam and Embraer also reached the same conclusion and ditched their electric 9 seater projects. Still, they must be commended for having stuck around long enough to produce a beautiful prototype and fly it, albeit for a total of 8 minutes. For a detailed explanation of why an all electric 9 seater isn't viable at the moment, I'll post this link from Tecnam which lays out the reasons why the P-Volt program was cancelled.

https://tecnam.com/tecnam-to-postpone-the-p-volt-programme/
 
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The so called "leader of electric aviation" hasn't archieve a lot, quite similar to Lilium... Lilium flew around 5 min with an empty demonstrater and Alice 8 min, at least 3 min longer. That was the their whole test program after buring lots of cash...
 
https://www.seattletimes.com/busine...llapse-of-electric-airplane-startup-eviation/
Finally we get the inside story of why the company imploded. A lot of nuggets of valuable information here. To me the most interesting bit is that the Israeli investors were not happy with the way the MagniX motors were incorporated into the design necessitating major airframe changes due to their weight, simply because their main investors also have a stake in that company as well.

But then again, everything I've read about the MagniX motors says that they are the most mature flight proven electric engines out there. With the benefit of hindsight, if they had designed this aircraft with a traditional wing mounted engine layout like the King Air, they could have incorporated heavier engines without making any airframe alterations.
 
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Hydroman said:
Maybe a good initial step was a hybrid then in time re-visit an all-electric propulsion system?
Click to expand...

I feel that if they had kept the design as simple and conventional as possible keeping in mind the limitations of battery technology they could have gotten much further along with their flight test program. The problem with this company is that right out of the gate they came up with something very unorthodox and impractical that would have been challenging to certify for even an experienced aerospace company. For example, this is an image of the very first concept unveiled back in 2015:

eviation-alice.jpg


This looks like a prop that was designed for a sci-fi film by someone who knows nothing about aircraft design. And yet the actual prototype that was built was even weirder looking:

66880_alice-billypix_77992.jpg


Even though they never admitted it, I'm guessing the weight of the batteries screwed up the CG of the aircraft enough to necessitate a change to a tail dragger design. So considering the bad design decisions that were made early on, it's a miracle this project lasted a full decade before going under.
 
alberchico said:
https://www.seattletimes.com/busine...p-halts-operations-in-blow-to-green-aviation/
Damn. They ran out of time and money. I really wanted them to succeed but the writing was on the wall for a long time. Battery density simply isn't good enough for a viable 9 seat commuter aircraft nor will it considerably improve within the near future. Other established players like Tecnam and Embraer also reached the same conclusion and ditched their electric 9 seater projects. Still, they must be commended for having stuck around long enough to produce a beautiful prototype and fly it, albeit for a total of 8 minutes. For a detailed explanation of why an all electric 9 seater isn't viable at the moment, I'll post this link from Tecnam which lays out the reasons why the P-Volt program was cancelled.

https://tecnam.com/tecnam-to-postpone-the-p-volt-programme/
Click to expand...
Alberchico -

Magni-X & Aerotec have successfully flown an “ all electric “ 9 PAX Cessna ECaravan

I DK what range and flight frequency you are thinking,of when using the term “ viable
9 seat commuter “ ?

I have not read where the all electric Carravan project has been deemed to be not
“ viable “ as a 9 seat commuter. Typical flight distances for such an aircraft, battery charging rates / frequency of charging, flight block times… and more; factor in.
 
Nicknick said:
Edit: this was the answer to a now deleted posting before

I added a quotation for the lift of the fuselage, so in case that I'm wong, I'm not the one to blame (Do you have any evidance, for the opposite?). Also the fact that cars tend to produce lift (if no additional efforts are done like adding spoilsers, diffusors etc.) is a widly knowen fact (see my last link). Lift is produced, when rotaion in the flow is occuring, that what I learned in flow dynamics, curvature is producing exactly that. Rotation doesn't mean, the flow on the bottom is flowing backwards, but the integral oft the flow shows a superposition of a parallel flow and a swirl. I learned that at the University (managed to get trough flow dynamic I and II), so I know what I'm talking about...

For all classic layouts, the tail is in fact producing downforce, this is basic knowledge you can find in all good books about aerrodynamics. Take a look:

http://avstop.com/ac/flighttrainghandbook/longitudinalstability.htmlhttps://aviation.stackexchange.com/...e-cargo-on-a-plane-with-the-wings-further-afthttps://www.aircraftsystemstech.com/2017/05/aircraft-design-characteristics.htmlhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/aerodynamic-lift
Click to expand...

Somewhere here in this video:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQID-sg-6Mc&t=371s


we find the information, that the old Ford Pinto produced about 1100 N of lift at 160 km/h. This clearly indicates, that fuselages indeed can produce significant lift.
 
Thought I'd add these two images to this thread for posterity. According to Reddit the aircraft was supposedly sold at an auction and was transported to its new home, and the other is the very last press image that was released by the company showing the wooden mockup and a model of the Alice in it's final configuration.
 

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