GKN Aerospace and Eviation partner on EWIS for Alice electric aircraft

Aerospace technology supplier GKN Aerospace and aircraft manufacturer Eviation have signed a collaboration agreement for Alice electric aircraft.

Under this agreement, GKN Aerospace will be responsible for the production of wings, empennage and electrical wiring interconnection systems (EWIS) for the aircraft.

Alice is Eviation’s regional electric aircraft launched recently.

The aircraft aims for more sustainable journeys of up to 650 miles.

GKN Aerospace civil airframes president John Pritchard said: “We are excited to collaborate with Eviation and to support the development of this all-new electric aircraft.

“The development of all-electric aircraft is groundbreaking; it’s a step-change in aviation and we are delighted to contribute.

“As technology leaders in wing, empennage and EWIS design, we can bring unrivalled knowledge and expertise to the project.”

Following the agreement, on-site design and manufacturing works have started at Eviation (Israel) and in several GKN Aerospace engineering centres in Europe.

GKN Aerospace is a partner in the Airbus ‘Wing of Tomorrow’ programme.

The company’s advanced lightweight aerostructures and EWIS are used on Airbus A220, A320, A330, A350 XWB, Boeing 767 and 787, Dassault F6X, F7X, F8X Gulfstream G550, G650, G700 and more.

Eviation CEO and co-founder Omer Bar Yohay said: “I trust that we’ll see GKN Aerospace take on a growing part of our development and manufacturing effort as the programme matures and the Alice nears production.”

In November 2019, Eviation Aircraft developed the first zero-emission electric regional commuter aircraft prototype using Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE Cloud-based platform.