Posted on 06/18/2019 10:42:18 AM PDT by Red Badger
June 18 (UPI) -- Israeli start-up Eviation showed off its all-electric airliner Tuesday at the Paris Air Show, and said a U.S. carrier has already made an order.
Company CEO Omer Bar-Yohay said the plane, called Alice, is the first of its kind in the world.
"The first all-electric commuter aircraft in the world, and it's out here ready and waiting," he told reporters.
Eviation displayed a prototype of the nine-seat plane at Paris' Le Bourget Airport. It's designed to fly as fast as 650 miles per hour and has a cruise speed of 276 miles per hour. The goal, Eviation said, is not to replace long-haul commercial air travel, but capture a growing market of short-distance flyers.
The plane has a list price of about $4 million each, which is far cheaper than conventional jet-powered airliners, and roughly 900 kilowatts of power split by three MagniX engines.
MagniX CEO Roei Ganzarski told CNBC it was "exciting to see a dream come true."
The company said Cape Air, one of the largest independent U.S. regional carriers, has already placed an order. After test flights this year, the plane is expected to receive certification by 2021 and deliver by 2022.
Well, Amazon is promising next day delivery to Prime customers, so why not ship the luggage thru them?
I can see how a drone-like plane could be useful, and drones do use electrical power for flight. Maybe one drone for passengers—they could then nix the pilot’s weight, since there’d be no pilot.
Maybe get Amazon to fly a luggage drone in a wingman configuration? ;->
It doesn’t say a RANGE of 650 miles, it says 650 MILES per HOUR. I have a tough time believing that, for sure, especially since the fastest prop plane on record is 623 mph...
With a blunder like that, I tend to ignore the article altogether.
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