Mr. Skyships.... this was a very well balanced and informative video. I'm a long term subscriber and you do a great job. Glad you're back and hope all is okay.

There are so many technologies that are just waiting for higher density energy storage to reach their full potential. I'm very excited to see what the future holds once we crack that nut.

To be honest, if true, I think the range of the aircraft is decent even in its current state. 700 km range opens up some reasonable options: from NYC you can now reach Toronto, Buffalo, DC, Pittsburgh, Boston, et al. These routes fall right into the short-haul niche that this aircraft is designed for, and combined with a cheaper fuel cost and significantly lower maintenance costs will hopefully make for a very viable regional aircraft. The only significant issue that I see here from a user comfort standpoint is that of charge timing: upon arriving into an airport, a delay will need to be implemented in order to recharge the aircraft. I started to wonder about electric aircraft this morning, upon realizing that small GA engines (i.e. lycoming O-320) have an easily comparable horsepower to cars such as the Nissan Leaf. I was thinking more along the lines of small GA/trainer/commuter aircraft a.l.a. Cessna 172, with ranges of about 300 km that would be made practical by 30-minute rechange and free fuel. Guess we can go bigger.

It’s marvelous to see aviation pioneers do their craft-with great financial risk, the challenge of developing brand-new technology, and no guarantee of success. Wow! Thank you Sky.

I pulled a load of batteries up to Prescott Arizona for an aviation Alice. I got some pictures, it is an absolutely gorgeous aircraft. It is going to fly between Prescott in Denver in Prescott an LAX

1:20 Air Baltic - Great carrier, thank you for the shot!

Wendover had an interesting use case for these: short haul luxury airlines like Cape Air. You can see their livery at the end of the video. They fly from NYC to the Hamptons and enjoy large government subsidies that keeps them profitable. With the low maintenance costs of electric aircraft and those subsidies, they could more then double their profit margin.

Proof that exaggerated claims will get you funded, but that funds can't turn exaggerated claims into reality.

In the eight months since you posted this video, battery technology has already advanced with a potential increase in energy density (which more or less equates to power per kilogram - "bang for your buck'). Advanced battery materials, flow batteries, and solid-state batteries have increased the energy density and reduced the charging times of the latest generation of batteries. The implementation of nanotechnology in battery manufacturing increases the surface and size of battery electrodes - this means they will absorb more energy during charging and increase the energy storage capacity. Since 2022, the average energy density of even Li-ion batteries has increased by about 5 to 10%, and we can expect more improvement in the future. However, I remain dubious about the wisdom of using Li-ion in aircraft given their acknowledged problems regarding their propensity to burst in flames for no apparent reason. The vast, and I mean VAST majority of airliner flights are short range commuter flights with small passenger numbers. They have the greatest impact on the environment as regards emissions, so much so that some countries, such as France, are banning them. But electric aircraft could replace many conventional piston and turboprop aircraft on short-haul flights and there are technical reasons why that could be a good thing. One of the greatest impacts on the life of an aircraft is not, as you might expect, the number of flight hours, but the number of _"pressurization cycles"_ . Each cycle involves a takeoff, a pressurization sequence and a landing. Aircraft on short-haul services undergo a lot of pressurization cycles, but the reason they need to do this is because the engines are more efficient at higher altitudes, so they need to fly higher to be at their most economical. However, electric aircraft have no such constraint. There are no efficiency gains to be had by flying at 20,000 ft instead of 2,000 feet so - in fact, it is probably more efficient for electric aircraft to fly lower. Consequently, there is no need for a pressurization system, and even if there is, they would not need to pressurize to, say 39,000 ft, so the strain on the airframe is reduced. Short haul electric aircraft could fly much lower, meaning no need to waste battery power climbing to high altitudes. I can easily see a small commuter airliner like the Eviation Alice or the Heart Aerospace ES-30 flying a 500km flight from one airport to another at 1,000 ft AGL instead of the usual 20,000 ft by other small commercial feeder liners. Interestingly, the ES-30 will carry two gas turbine APUs to supply extra electrical power, which would only be used in an emergency, or in the case of an aircraft needing to divert to an alternate airfield out of its normal range. Like the APUs on regular airliners, they use aviation jet fuel IMO, we are not yet ready to see large scale electric aircraft commercially, but I don't see it as a false horizon either. I think they are only a few years away. *Edit to Add:* I expect someone will take exception to my statement that _"There are no efficiency gains to be had by flying at 20,000 ft instead of 2,000 feet"_ . Well I confess that is not entirely true. Drag at 20,000 feet is a lot lower than at 2,000 feet. But, its all relative - it is a much smaller part of the equation. Over 80% of the efficiency gains from flying at altitude come from greater engine efficiency. Flying at altitude might give you better drag efficiency, but you have to get there first. Most of those gains are eaten up by the losses incurred in using battery power to get to the higher altitude i.e. it costs more power to climb than it does to fly level, and in the case I am making, short haul, very little of the flight time is spent at high altitude.

Add the 30min IFR reserve and this thing is good for 1 full procedure IMC flight across a small town ;-)

And when will the return trip take place?

I wonder if they will offer that airframe in a more traditional power plant arrangement. I really like the lines of it and more traditional propulsion options may bring it to market quicker. That of course supposes it can be economically retrofitted with liquid style fuel tanks, engines and associated plumbing.

I like how this plane has batteries all over the place so there are less places for snakes to hide.

Thanks , as a normal and little engineer I love this educational video for my profession.

very objective analysis! Thanx

This final version is a very beautiful plane. The original concept with wing tip props was dangerous. If one wing tip motor shuts down, the plane could go into a spin. Just like the Piaggio Avant, the airfoil shaped fuselage of this plane would generate lift, and even more, because it has a flat belly.

Remove the radiators under the motors, use the front edge of tail surfaces and wings for cooling systems (also prevent ice for free), the range will increse 5 to 10%.

Beautiful plane at least

The tech for an electric only aircraft of this type is not there yet but I'm asking myself for quite some time now why there are not more HEV's?

Thank you. Normally, engineers start with power plant's expected numbers like kWhour, range afforded, and weight of the supply battery pack, and consider load weight and range. Then, it's kind of coasting downhill from there with the air frame design. Looking at your specs, I figured there was going to be a bunch of disappointments in these specs. And, sure there are. I would strongly suggest that they resolve the energy density versus onboard weight of the battery supply and once that target is achieved - what will it take to move a desirable number of passengers to a given distance? Then, they tackle the rest. WW2 studies by Germans (Dornier 335) late in the war, including American studies of the Curtis Ascender XP55, proved that a pusher design causes less drag than a puller (hence more speed).Your aircraft reverted to a puller. Hope this worked for Eviation Alice. We live in exciting times! Great job you did Skyships Eng!

I'm really rooting for this. How dirty are short haul flights? If this succeeds it could really clean things up. Even if it doesn't succeed, battery technology will certainly improve in the near future and perhaps someone else would try again.

hello skyship, i always watch your videos and i like your of presentation. i have a suggestion, you used to talk about different models of airplanes and the properties of each.. my suggestion is to expand your area and talk about the manufacturers themselves, the different aviation and transport companies, and also the simple gliders.. i'm sure you're smart and can do it perfectly... all the best.

Was wondering what happened to Alice as early as today when I'd seen an old magazine with the wingtip propulsion setup type. Cape Air near NYC were keen on it. Think it was due in service 2022, according to that article.

This is where a straightforward paper cal would have shown it has no range, to save it they need to put jet engines on it

Its good to see the start of electrification of planes. With a good engineering workforce we will encounter these problems and devise solutions to work around them just as we did with combustion aircraft. If you get even more money pushing new battery tech we'll see improvements come even faster than we have recently, which will affect nearly every corner of the tech and vehicle sector that is left. Now that we've got one, many more will follow in short order.

that is a steal. For a price per hour comparable with small 2-4 seater you get multi engine without engine issues. That is awesome. Its not like those small planes have better range nor speed.

3.7 tonnes in just battery weight?? Bloody hell. Very cute looking aircraft and nice vision for electric propulsion but as we've seen from electric technology on the ground....I have very little faith that it'll take off in the air😅

What you are missing are integrated solar panels like Aptera. This may give the critical 10-15% extra increase in range with a small increase in weight.

Battery technology keeps electric flight mostly grounded. Can you imagine the horror if a electric aircraft had a battery fire in flight? 10,000 feet in the air...

The battery wraps around the lower half of the cabin. Half the cabin must be pulled out to access it. Far better to have a bolt on battery below the floor so it can be removed and maintained with ease. The cabin height should be about 1.9 metres. the fuselage needs to be another 600 mm to 700 mm taller - it may lose some of the blended wing effect.

To me, unless they allow you airdrop spent battery (which will never happen), electric airplanes will be limited to general aviation or small shuttles… after all when using fuel, the plane gets lighter over time, 747 can land 70 tons lighter compared to takeoff…

Is this fuesalage laminar flow like the Celera-500L

It is important to note the many advantages the a fully electric aircraft. I could write an extensive list of them but it is more appropriate to identify the business cases where an electric aircraft offers a competitive advantage over fossil fuel aircraft. In particular the short haul commuter market in the US is one that the Alice could effectively serve. Further, as the first all electric aircraft in it's market segment it is inevitable that many design problems need to be identified and solutions found. The development of the power electronics to run the flight motors has been a complex task indeed. Over time the continued improvement of battery energy density will assist all electric aircraft with meeting performance requirements. Don't forget that liquid fuels have weight too. So why not compare the battery weight to an equivalent fuel load in a similar sized aircraft ?

Two markets that battery tech needs to get far better in density and quick charging performance is Aviation and Motorcycles. Unless someone comes up with a better density to cut the weight, like solid state or graphene, it's going to be at best a niche market. I still think someone needs to figure a way to upscale production of algae aviation fuel. At least the algae absorb CO2 and hopefully is close to carbon neutral.

Easier maintenance is appealing but the batt tech isn't there yet

Good for feeder routes and FedEx deliveries to small airports.

I fleet of pilotless cargo aircraft is one of the more realistic applications for this aircraft. There are several smaller airports around the country that could accomodate without requiring DHS fees to be loaded on the flight costs. Passengers require pressurized cabins, DHS inspections and most won't choose flights broken into hops with the way the current DHS guidelines require early check-ins and other time-consuming procedures that discourage traveling.

Hey Skyship, do you have any consideration for an Su-27 video in the future?

What makes Alice special is that it is more than a concept; orders are strong and planes are being delivered

Aircraft are usually worked hard, so they would do several such flights per day to hit profit margins. That means several full battery charge-discharge cycles every day. Therefore the batteries would reach EOL several times faster than your average electric car, say after 2-3 years instead of after 10-15 years. Hence the aircraft is likely to need it's batteries replaced several times through it's expected lifetime. Is that factored into the cost of ownership? Electric car owners accept that their range will reduce as their battery ages, is that acceptable for aircraft?

How long to charge it up.

I would assume it has some lifting body characteristics don’t you agree?

Why not have solar panels on the wings to augment the power? In Southern USA, Spain, Egypt and the Sahel this could xubstantially increase the power supply.

All of electric aircraft must have ejectable batteries (same system for quick changes and eject if have fire during flight) its easy, in case of ejection, a parachute will open.

nooo the tri motor one :< i want tri *jets* to come back i really miss planes with 3 engines

There are many potential solutions in the works to improve flight efficiency of planes like Alice. In the pure battery arena, CATL and Northvolt expect to have 500wh/kg available before any of these newer planes can be certified. That's a huge jump from the 300wh/kg available today. Then there are powerful new engines like those being developed by Rolls-Royce and Whisper Aero. And hybrid hydrogen-electric power trains like those using Safran's turbogenerator or hydrogen fuel cell. Heart's ES-30, for instance, has an estimated range on battery alone of 200kn (125 miles) with 30 passengers. That is projected to improve to 800kn ( 497 miles) if the powertrain is hybrid electric propulsion. The same could be expected for Alice.

the Battery performance is a draw back but the business case is still very powerful. The energy to weight ratio of batteries will continue to get better over time for sure and when the Swedes perfect the massless carbon fiber battery you can mold the battery into structural components of the plane.

if they have electric motors that strong and the batteries are the main issue, why not just use a turbine as an electric powerplant? two-engine airliners already use a third turbine in the tail for power and air

You will most likely need to do a structural batter cell with cell-to-pack technology like Tesla will be doing to reduce weight and increase range and performance.

I am rather skeptical about galvanic batteries or superconducting coils to power vehicles so that is why I am very keen about my solid fueled jet engine and nuclear isotopic fueled engines and even patented lighter than air solids.

I think it would really help to stick with the word "motor" for electric propulsion as opposed to "engine" for fuel power.

at that size and passenger capacity this seems more like a private plane than a viable commercial plane.

🀄🀄If they could only push it with a launch vehicle to get it up to take-off speed, that would save a lot of power DYT?

I'm skeptic about battery-powered planes. I think hydrogen fuel-cell powered planes are the future for commercial air transport.

The Plane ist pretty perfect, the batteries are evolving quickly, this plane and similar concepts have a great future, if it can reliably reach a range of 400 miles, which would be available with actually existing batterytechnology, than this would be in many places of the world a real environmental improvement. Consider that taxiing time on the ground is extremely cheap and does not eat range compared to turbine AC, this is a huge factor.

Energy density of batteries is gonna need to be about 4-500% more to make it even remotely feasible for commercial aircraft.

At the moment won’t many e-aircraft use electricity created by coal burning power plants to charge their batteries? If so, they are still a wonderful experimental pursuit set to help us in the future when we hope the majority of electricity can be generated cleanly using the sun, wind, water or any means non-hazardous to the environment.

Tough to find 500 mile extension cord, i guess

They could put solarpanels on top of the wings.

If there using Lithium Ion battery, I'm not getting on that plane, Ide wait until they start using Solid State Battery.

They should just gone Hybrid electric problem solved, HoneyWell has a 1MW turbine generator. It weighs around 300-500kg

Personally, I still think that our limitations with battery tech is too big for a full EV plane to be viable. Ariel the automotive company recently teased a hybrid sports car where a small turbine acts as a range extender for its massive battery packs. Turbines would work way better in aviation applications since it also provided extra thrust, just like the Spitfire’s Merlin engines.

AC/DC-Back In Black (Piano cover by Gamazda )😃

There is no problem that time and money wont solve.

Not ready for prime time.

Did the designers overlook the ability of powered wheels to assist takeoff ?

Would something similar to a Tesla car layout for the batteries help with weight and range?

Good video, but electric planes are not yet ready for the mass market

I think that the whole industry has made some big strides congratulations but at the same time, there is a tremendous amount of R&D far in the future. I will not trust this technology and toners been tested, tested and tested and proven. I’m old-school, but I am open to this technology if it works and it’s safe, reliable, but I’m sure there are a lot of good people working on it with the same goal in mind or goals. Keep up the good work that you’re doing you will succeed.

Range is the killer. They've got to get into electric car territory - 300-350 miles on a full charge.

Like all early adopters, the technology they are working in is very much in its infancy, just like the Wright Brothers, and Tesla Motors, the predominant response from "people in the know" will be begått, and ridiculous milestones will be set for them "not until you are able to pull a five hundred mile extension cord through the desert, will the Tesla be a success" type responses. These commentators all seem to think they have a reputation to protect, and that all will be forgotten when the tech reaches maturity. Only when you have actually developed something that will make a difference, will you discover how full of absolute manure these doomsayers are Eviation's product WILL revolutionize the world of aviation, probably in ways we do not understand yet, even if they are dissolved tomorrow, they will have inspired some person, somewhere to make something worthwhile. Eviation will be back, I just hope their backers don't pull out, and will commit to the long term, this is where the money is, and this is where their market will be, and for the developers behind the scenes, this is where the true impact of their IP will be realised.

(fly higher, faster and more efficiently - some planes have drop tanks, drop empty batteries as autonomous glider planes )

Engineers need to do allot more work on improving lithium ion battery safety.

What about turnaround time? How long does it take to fully charge. lmao

Why they keep calling fuel engine...❎🙅 When they are electric motor...☑️🙋🏾‍♂️

my comments, I want one, including an long extension cord

We are a long way from seeing these at your local airports. The battery tech simply is not there ... as they have already found out the hard way. Not only is there a range problem, but there's the elephant in the room that got glossed over ... how long does it take to recharge this beast and who's going to build the charging infrastructure to support it. Airlines make their money by making max use of their planes; a plane sitting on the ground with a minimum 60-90min turnaround time isn't making any money. Then there's the environmental C/B analysis ... has anyone done one? Manufacturing batteries is a dirty carbon heavy business. How many flight hours will it take to pay off the carbon cost of making the batteries? We tend to get OOWWWED, AAWWWED and mesmerized by pretty new tech without really looking deeper at what's really there and what it represents in real terms. It is a VERY pretty bird, but at this stage its just a pretty baby with a long teething period ahead and has yet to prove it can really do anymore more than OOWWW, AAWWW and mesmerized. I'm hopeful and wish them all good fortune. But I'm not holding my breath.😎 None of this is any reflection on you Mr.Skyships; you make DAMNED GOOD videos which I thoroughly enjoy and I'm a subscriber.

I don't get why an electric plane doesn´t have solar panels... Maybe it would add more weight?

Think this technology have a long way to go, up at flight levels it is cold - the Lithium need to be heated (from them selfs), the turnaround time (charging) can not be feasible to enough to make it profitabel...

For a country like Germany 800-1000 km range will be an option.

Why? Why? Why? 440nm to 250nm

La aviación eléctrica por el momento es inviable , tienen poca capacidad de alcance y carga Tendria que ser como lo pensaba el inventor nicola tesla , con una gran red de grandes torres productoras de energia eléctricas que enviaran durante todo el vuelo , energia sin cables , a las baterías del avion , pero ese sistema no podría usarse para cruzar los mares

Why not just call this the Evanti?

why don't they just put some turboprop to their existing aircraft as money source, then use the profit to research and develop the actual electric plane?

Quieter?

Why is there a picture of Singapore? Ooo a model airplane was shown in France. And people bought it. "The batteries burst into flames by themselves. Who would have thought." Anybody paying attention. Changes were made to the gosh wow version after they got a ton of money. We don't know why these changes were made. We must be daft. "Its planned range is..." still not its actual range. For what this company appears to be, "planned range is" is the same as "we think it would be cool and maybe we could get some more money if the range were". There we go. Next paragraph : range is lol.

The lack of the best energy density batteries is a minor inconvenience. And can easily be remedied later on. The progress with the overall platform is what’s most valuable!

Oh the idea of an electric passenger plane is not ready yet. Need a radical solution to the problem of battery efficiency

Since the battery consists of hundreds to thousands of individual cells, each of which has at least two welded joints, and in light of the fact that one of the biggest challenges with EVs is failure of the battery resulting in a thermal runaway, who in their right mind would get into an aircraft that is subject to shock and vibration that is much greater than ground vehicles? Its like sitting on a thermal bomb that can kill you at any time. Not for me.

Until you have ice protection and IFR reserve range, it's a pointless endeavour.

This needs to have an APU generator. Store fuel in the wings. Run the APU to constantly charge while flying with a large multi-cell battery. I hate lithium-ion batteries. We desperately need to find alternatives. Mining lithium and nickel for these batteries are a nasty business and they're highly reactive with oxygen (they explode when punctured). Using a large belly Fluoride batteries, for example, with an APU generator would be fantastic! The APU can run on 100% sustainable aviation fuel (which burns much cleaner) then having Fluoride batteries which have very high power density. Hopefully, those batteries will come online soon and this can be a reality.

Same problem with all electric aircraft, limited payload,limited range certification.They all quote ranges from full battery to empty battery when in reality all aviation laws require you to land with 20-30 minutes reserve in VFR conditions. In IFR conditions enough fuel ( battery power in this case ) enough to reach your destination fly a missed approach and fly to an ulternate airport plus 20-30 minutes reserve. So if the cloud base and or visibility is low you are going nowhere useful.

If politicians took the climate crisis seriously and banned airplanes that run on fossil fuels, Alice would be a very good airplane all of a sudden.

Lets see, less than half the payload for same sized aircraft, a VERY CRAMPED fuselage, and half to a quarter of the range... Oh right, exactly what EVERY engineer has been saying for years... Current batteries are nowhere CLOSE.

250nm range. Take into account battery wear over time, temperature effects, and weather, taxi, alternate requirements, etc...and your range isn't much. Then you have recharge time. Cape Air, blah blah blah. Guess what? This will require a type rating, and that costs a whole lot more than putting a pilot in the C402 or Tecnam. Sorry folks, technology just isn't here yet.

Given the cramped layout alone, I would not want to ride in this vehicle. This is a seriously dead end!

Nope, this is not happening in the foreseeable future. Perhaps not ever. Battery range that can get you somewhere is not enough in aviation. You need range to fly a missed approach when you get there, range to divert to an alternate airfield, range to stay above it for at least 30 minutes and significant contingency range on top of all this. Just in case. And then you would also need to operate safely with one engine inoperative. So for commercial operations, perhaps redundancy considerations would even need additional batteries in case some are lost in-flight. And Eviation don’t currently have the range to get anyone anywhere. 250 miles?! So the business case is for corporate clients who need to fly executives between their two office locations, which happen to be 5 miles apart and separated by a lava flow?

Sustainability = moving the problem somewhere else and thinking that you are quote saving the planet”, while creating a bigger mess somewhere else

I could have done the math and predicted the range failure for a few hundred bucks .. would have been no need to build and waste millions ... Batteries power to weight ratio over Kerosene is 14 / 1 .. meaning you need 14 lbs of battery to match 1 lb of kerosene ... There as of yet is no such thing as a useful electric transport craft and never will be until that ratio is cut in half ... and that conceivably may never happen

funny. So what an electric plane; they've been around as toys for 50 years .. they have short range and are basically useless as a result. The hope is for more energy dense batteries to make this more of a viable option, but - did you every notice the catch on fire.. they will need to also be safer and cheaper.