Eviation was founded in 2015 and employed around 30 people who were all laid off last week. The crash landing for the company was triggered by a tense internal conflict among shareholders: In mid-January, the company’s Singapore-based financial backer sent a letter to shareholders outlining a deep disagreement with the two Israeli co-founders.

A representative of Clermont Group, the investment firm of billionaire Richard Chandler, who owns 70% of Arlington-based Eviation, wrote that Clermont would withhold further funding for 2025 unless the Israelis relinquished control of the company. The Israelis refused, and so Chandler stopped the monthly payments that kept Eviation going.

Big faith in electric aircraft, completely without factual basis

The company’s implosion is a blow to the state of Washington’s ambition to be a centre for «innovative, emission-free green aviation technology», and they are not alone in their belief in electric aircraft: Here in Norway, too, Avinor and Widerøe have put flight safety aside and made cutting CO2 emissions their top priority. I’m not sure if everyone ten kilometres above the ground feels the same? The ambition to rapidly introduce electric aircraft is criticised because the maths don’t add up, the economics don’t add up, the timeframe is beyond the current certification regime, and the results on existing electric aircraft are unconvincing.

What Eviation has promised the aviation industry is a nine-passenger commuter version, a six-passenger executive version and a freighter version with a maximum payload of 2500 lbs (1100 kg). Alice is designed to have a top speed of 480 km/h (300 mph), a range of up to 400 km (250 miles) and the ability to stay in the air for up to two hours – and this should really arouse more concern than enthusiasm.

These specifications are hardly compatible with commercial success. Even a low-cost, single-engine Cessna Caravan can seat up to 14 passengers and stay in the air for over five hours. What’s more, Eviaton Alice has only been in the air once. The first and only flight was a meagre eight minutes all the way back in 2022. Yet the company promised full certification and operation in 2027, and this is not practicable with the current safety regime around certification of new aircraft types.

Continued hope but no bright spots for electric aircraft

What made Alice the main proof that the future of aviation is electric is a reported backlog of as many as 600 reservations from customers such as DHL Express, Air New Zealand and GlobalX – but the fact that many companies are interested doesn’t make a plane fly. What is certain is that all so-called climate initiatives have their economics firmly anchored in government climate subsidies, and Eviation will likely continue to apply for more money from whatever public and private backers it can find.

Investors say that the company’s success will depend on its ability to attract and retain investors.

The investors say in a press release that “Clermont Group remains committed to revolutionising air travel through innovative electric solutions” and insist they will continue to search for long-term strategic partners who share their vision and passion for building what they call “the aircraft of the future”

The potential closure of Eviation joins the ranks of bankruptcies and closures of companies and projects developing aircraft for alternative fuels. They include Universal Hydrogen, Lilium, Volocopter, Tecnam’s electric aircraft, Airbus CityAirbus NextGen ZEROe programmes and ATR’s hybrid regional aircraft programme.

All that has really been achieved so far with the invention of electric aeroplanes is proving how efficient and safe today’s aeroplanes actually are, and how dangerous and unrealistic the dream of electric aircraft is.