First flight: Israeli-designed electric plane takes off in US
An all-electric prototype airplane, dubbed Alice, took off from the city of Moses Lake in Washington state on Tuesday.
Take-off 7:10 a.m.
Alice is flying pic.twitter.com/V7sIpPGfpB— Dominic Gates (@dominicgates) September 27, 2022
The plane, designed by Israeli and American engineers, climbed to 3,500 feet after making two wide turns around the airfield, and eight minutes later, the jet successfully landed.
Eviation, an Arlington, Washington-based startup, designed and built the plane, which can transport nine passengers and one or two pilots and is powered by slightly more than 21,500 Tesla-style battery cells that together weigh more than 4 tons.
Lewis Carroll’s fantastical tales of Alice’s travels in Wonderland inspired the name of the aircraft.
“What’s next is actually producing an airplane for the marketplace,” Eviation CEO Greg Davis told The Seattle Times.
Eviation eventually intends to produce three models, all of which will differ significantly from the prototype in terms of design: an executive model with a more opulent cabin, a cargo variant, and a nine-passenger configuration.
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