Lear Fan anyone? Also, I suppose the tail-dragger undercarriage is to prevent prop-strike...
dan
safety first! 100 years of aviation history has proven the safety benefits of tricycle undercarriages. tail-dragger undercarriage can have advantages for bush planes etc., but for commercial aircrafts it is not a good idea, even if it could help reducing mass in order to try to fly electrically. Safety first, right?
guzmanchinky
What an amazing piece of engineering. But I'm curious how much the battery ate into the luggage storage? Still, can't wait to see this thing fly...
PB
At that weight the pilot must have a type rating. Range - fly to destination, plus an alternate, plus 45 minutes (per FARs) - this has enough practical range to get to Las Vegas from Sthn California, but then will have to sit for a day to recharge the batteries. Innovative, but if it had one turbine powered pusher in the tail it could fly for 2000 miles. Electric is impractical.
Nelson Hyde Chick
It appears to be bolted together using rivets, so it is aluminum instead of carbon fiber, a step backwards.
Bill S.
In the real world of business aviation, I can say with no pun intended, this thing will never fly.
BlueOak
Impressive performance claims if they can deliver. Especially doing so with 11 passenger capability.
Mark Hays
The sleek Alice, along with others, prove that electric power is practical for aircraft. Cape Air in Massachusetts already signed a contract with Eviation for more than 10 planes. Cape Air plans to charge the new Alice aircraft using energy generated from the airport’s solar arrays. With fast DC charging, the Alice can turnaround in just 70 minutes. (No "overnight" stay as another poster claimed.) The CEO of Cape Air noted, "“An electric motor is just amazing. To give you an idea, the electric motors we’re talking about going forward have roughly a 20,000-hour life cycle, whereas the engine on our current aircraft has a 2,000-hour life.” Anyone who owns aircraft knows what this means for service / maintenance costs. See: www.aviationtoday.com/2019/10/12/ifs-world-2019-cape-air-ceo-talks-benefits-challenges-launching-future-electric-flights/
clay
Those wingtip motors are gonna be a handful on take-off (or landing) when one of them fails. I am thinking about the *hugely* asymmetric thrust vector.