Stratasys, a 3-D printing and additive manufacturing solutions company, announced that Eviation Aircraft, an Israeli manufacturer of all-electric air mobility solutions, is using Stratasys 3-D printing to develop one of the world’s first all-electric commuter aircraft. Stratasys believes its 3-D printing solutions give Eviation a leg up in the race to develop hybrid-electric commercial aircraft.
“In the next four years, Eviation aims to make regional air travel a cost-effective and clean option that rivals any existing form of transit today,” says Eviation founder and CEO, Omer Bar-Yohay. “With people working and commuting across greater distances than ever before, we believe the solution will bring mid-range cities like Seoul and Beijing, or London and Paris, closer together through all-electric air travel.”
According to Stratsys, Eviation took a “start from scratch,” holistic approach to the engineering of its electric commuter aircraft. The entire development process – including aerodynamic testing and the propulsion system – was designed to maximize the efficiency of electric flight. Stratasys says 3-D printing enabled the company to test many of its designs long before it needed to invest in actual certifiable parts, resulting in accelerated processes and more innovative designs, as well as significantly reduced engineering costs.
“Our ability to create new iterations of designs with 3-D printing and see how they perform in real-time is helping us reduce critical capital costs, even as we accelerate our rapid prototyping phase,” explains Bar-Yohay. “The kind of highly iterative, in-house manufacturing process that Stratasys 3D printing has refined is crucial to the life of a company in the constantly changing, and highly competitive, transportation space.”
