Now when they bird strike and destroy the starboard composit propellor on takeoff, I bet they will wish that they went with a LARGE vertical tail to at least have SOME control before impact. Obviously they will be only left with one tail prop that will not be able to keep it aloft.
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Well, at least no money has changed hands yet.
440NM seems downright ridiculous even allowing for a few years worth of battery improvement. They have been talking about a ‘maiden flight’ all year and it still hasn’t happened… and even if it does happen this year, it’ll last for about 10 mins max, I’ll be bound!
Another coal-power battery flivver fuel by tax dollars and naive investors. Zero emissions? Where does it get its power? The outlet on the wall, right? Turnarounds take how many hours for the recharge?
Looking at those numbers I guess they must have found the next Great Leap Forward in battery life which no-one else has figured out.
Power sources to charge that thing in Florida: 75% natural gas, 12% nuclear 7% coal. Zero emissions is a bold-faced lie. Isn’t it the job of journalists to keep its sources honest? The publisher is quick to rebuke any commentator whose opinions do not agree with his. How about applying the same standards to advertorials like these?
Is prop-to-ground clearance on the centerline rear prop going to limit its operation to “in-flight-only”? The photo makes it appear that prop strikes could be a problem with only a small bit of over rotation.
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Attention skeptics - C’mon Man! As an engineer with much experience in failure mode analysis I can state with good authority that if it has not flown, it has not failed. Until then it’s all good… Right? No? LOL
I have to wonder if these unicorn-shaped balloon animals inflated with Unobtainium should be named “Maytag” due to how very clean the money gets once it goes through the product’s business structure. Not an accusation, just a questioning thought.
Eviation’s 16,500 pound Alice uses a 7800 pound/3500Kg battery, rated at 900KWh, which properly managed between 20% and 80% charge can provide 540KWh, or 540 real-world shaft HP for one hour (remember the motor/controller and wiring are not 100% efficient, so KWh and HP are nearly synonymous)
So, barring some remarkable reduction in lift induced drag (again, remember it takes a well known amount of thrust to create lift) and/or a remarkable ability to remain in high speed cruise flight using only 125HP, this thing is going to have 15 minutes of IFR range.
By way of comparison, our 10,450 pound Pilatus PC-12 uses a flat rated 1200HP, (compare to 1200KWh battery size) to climb to altitude over 20 minutes. Any way you slice it the KWh consumed simply lifting 10,500 pounds to 25,000 feet is about 400KWh. And we’ve not even started to cruise yet.
Don’t tell me Eviation can lift 16,500 pounds to altitude using their 540KWh worth of power and actually go anywhere.
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Ahhh yes, THIS is why I come to AvWeb… Smart people calling out dumb ideas. Good stuff Chris C!
The current design features a T-tail, tricycle landing gear, and a pair of motors mounted on pylons at the rear of the plane. AvWeb blew it with the image they posted - that prototype was destroyed by a battery fire, and has little similarity to the current design (beyond the name).
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See my reply above to Artie. The plane shown is NOT the current design.
Thank you, Chris C. I wonder all the time why people don’t run the simple numbers on claims like these. Tough to get around the laws of physics!
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I just looked at the eviation web site. There is an asterisk next to the range number. The footnote says “TARGET range, zero wind, NO PAYLOAD, IFR reserves” (My emphasis)
Here! Here! A knowledgeable person with specific info for discussion! After reading the article, my first thoughts are specs, the ones not discussed in real world terms like your brief. While not an engineer in any area no one has taken electrical info about e-aircraft requirements for actual a/c weight including loads, specific battery kwh rating, electric motor(s) current draw in all phases of flight, reserve power for emergency alternate airport deviation, etc. At the least, you present some basic info. With electrical laws well established, providing specs of battery and motor may reveal either a pie in the sky attempt at marketing (Tesla’s ev semi truck has isn’t reality despite years of marketing hype) or real world demonstrated performance. One great example was the converted DHC Beaver(?) in Alaska to electric several years ago as proof of concept yet no more news updates of practical chartered flights.
Thanks Rush; I just went to their website. Thanks goodness they pulled the thrust lines inward and used a more conentional tail. The pictured design is unsafe at any speed 
Let’s see; we have a new airplane that has not yet flown, and an FAA that has not yet formulated the standards on such a craft, and they project it will enter commercial service in less than five years? What could go wrong here? ?
It’s a fine line for aviation publications to “report the news” vs. reality. For those of us who have been around the industry for a while, these unproven claims don’t do the industry any favors. It’s gotten so common that most people have become skeptical of MOST breathless “breakthrough” developments that are “just around the corner.” Even worse, when “orders” for a new airplane that has yet to fly (or even reach the intended configuration!) by an “airline” that is still in the “concept” stage–it borders on fraud.
Unsubstantiated claims like this borders on Propaganda. People have to RELY on the news media–and media that reports unsubstantiated claims cannot be cited as a “reliable source.” As my old Dad said many years ago–“Reliability and trust are your greatest assets.” If media loses trust, they are no better than the wildly false claims of “Baghdad Bob” during the Gulf War.
Increasingly, media has ignored the need to “only report verified facts” in search of “being first.” BE CAREFUL–news media–reliability is your livelihood and stock in trade–your BIGGEST ASSET. Better to miss a “scoop” than to report unsubstantiated information.
Started passenger service in August 2021, a little over a year ago. Not long enough to have learned that the way to make a little money in aviation…
One thing I will point out is that other aircraft manufacturers also advertise a maximum range, maximum speed, and maximum payload value for their product/design. It doesn’t mean you get all three on the same flight.