3D printed electric airplane Alice will provide cheap and safe air transfers
A prototype of the Alice electric passenger airplane was presented on the 52nd International Paris Airshow by the Israeli aircraft manufacturer Eviation Aircraft. This ecofriendly transport was developed with the help of Stratasys additive technologies.
On a single charge, Alice is able to fly 965 km at max speed of 444 km/h. Its length reaches 12 m, wing span – 13.5 m and weight – 5.9 t. The airplane is capable of boarding 11 people, including 2 crew members, and it’s as comfortable as any common airplane.
Alice prototype is a result of the hard work of Eviation aircraft designers and Stratasys 3D print specialists. Additive technologies were used for the projection of the very prototype and production of structural elements with complex geometry.
Airplane outer elements were printed on a 3D-printer from a ULTEM 1010 composite and later covered with a carbon fiber. As a result, a small, ultralight and reliable eco-friendly transport for regular passenger carriage was created.
According to Eviation representatives, 3D print saved several hundreds of thousands of dollars on the airplane manufacturing, as well as dramatically accelerated prototyping terms.
Israeli developers claimed that Alice is 300 times more power efficient than other airplanes of a similar class. It has a low operating cost, so tickets are going to be cheap. In fact, Alice is a long distance air taxi.
In 2018, Eviation Aircraft is going to certify the new product and start the project commercialization. The company promises to set low-cost air transfers between huge cities in Europe and Asia.
