Rolls Royce’s all electric airplane, dubbed the ‘Spirit of Innovation’ is officially the world’s fastest all-electric aircraft, having set two new world records which have now been independently confirmed.
On 16 November 2021, the aircraft reached a top speed of 555.9 km/h (345.4 mph) over 3 kilometres, smashing the existing record by 213.04 km/h (132mph). In further runs at the UK Ministry of Defence’s Boscombe Down experimental aircraft testing site, the aircraft achieved 532.1km/h (330 mph) over 15 kilometres – 292.8km/h (182 mph) faster than the previous record.
During its record-breaking runs, the aircraft, which is part of the UK Government-backed ACCEL or ‘Accelerating the Electrification of Flight’ project, also clocked up a maximum top speed of 623km/h (387.4mph), making it the world’s fastest all-electric vehicle.
Rolls Royce’s all electric airplane, dubbed the ‘Spirit of Innovation’, took to the skies in September last year propelled by its 400kW (500+hp) electric powertrain with the most power-dense battery pack ever assembled for an aircraft.
Rolls Royce has pledged to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions in its operations by 2030. It joined the UN Race to Zero campaign in 2020, and has committed to ensuring its new products will be compatible with net zero operation by 2030, and all products will be compatible with net zero by 2050.
Rolls-Royce has customers in more than 150 countries, comprising more than 400 airlines and leasing customers, 160 armed forces and navies, and more than 5,000 power and nuclear customers.
See Also:
