CCS is Developing Composite Wings for Eviation's Electric Aircraft
July 12, 2019
Composite Cluster Singapore (CSS) has started working with Eviation Aircraft on ‘Alice’ – a fully electric aircraft structure that was lately showcased at the 53rd International Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, France.
CCS is continuously expanding its activities in the electric propulsion aircraft, urban air mobility and unmanned vehicles sector. Leveraging the Composite Application Center (CAC) consortium announced in 2018, CCS is spearheading high-impact projects, such as the wing development for Eviation’s ‘Alice’ aircraft.
‘Alice’, a battery electric passenger aircraft is getting developed by Israeli Eviation Aircraft. Built 95% from composite materials, it will be controlled by fly-by-wire and powered by three electric engines, in a wingtip and pusher configuration. The nine passenger aircraft with a range of 640 miles/ 1,000 km at cruise speed of 240 knots, will have much lower direct operating cost than turboprop aircraft.
The wing and belly fairings for Eviation has been designed by CCS and has the first shipset has been delivered for assembly to Vanned in France. The entire CSS team has been engaged in this project since the day one until present and is currently working on the second prototype.
“Eviation has achieved tremendous results in a very short timeframe.” Comments Dr. Florian Doetzer, managing Director of CSS. “We are proud to contribute our part. Our team spirit is tremendous and it is due to our own staff’s and our partner’s professionalism that we’ve been able to meet our targets working across continents. I am proud of what we’ve achieved so far and there is more to come.”
Dr. Floriance Doetzer was present at the Paris Air Show 2019 from 17th to 21st June to showcase the composite capabilities of CSS.
“Today we are seeing the future of aviation with design, technology and material innovations that are paving the way for this new era of air mobility.” Said Eviation CEO, Omer Bar-Yohay.
The designing and manufacturing of the wind assembly was done locally and this highlights the capabilities of Singapore in this region as an aviation hub. Specifically, aircraft with electric propulsion paves the way for a new era in the aerospace industry and Singapore authorities are supporting this development actively.
CSS is working closely the with Enterprise Singapore, the government agency championing enterprise development, on its growth plans, including the development of the prototype. “This is the first of many global innovation projects in the advanced materials space that can be done in Singapore.” Said Ho Chi Bao, Director in Advanced Manufacturing at Enterprise Singapore. “Additionally, the project is an outcome from the collaboration between Singapore companies and international partners, where they jointly develop capabilities in composite material design and manufacturing. Apart from aerospace, their new competencies could be applied in other industries locally and overseas.”
“The partnership between CSS and Eviation Aircraft is a significant milestone not only for Singapore’s aviation industry, but also for our materials design and development industry, which is important to enable better performance such as lightweighting and corrosion resistance across various end applications.” Said Damian Chan, Executive Director in Chemicals & Materials, at Singapore Economic development Board. “This is in line with efforts to strengthen our innovation capabilities in advanced materials, including specialty polymers and polymer matrix composites, and we hope to see more such joint development projects in Singapore.”
Source: CompositeCluster