From now on, the World’s fastest electric powered plane It is also the fastest electric vehicle in the world. Three world records have been smashed by the Spirit of Innovation from Rolls-Royce PLC, the aeronautical company that does not make cars – not to be confused with Rolls-Royce Cars. This technology demonstrator has raised the bar considerably.
On November 16, the record-breaking flight took place. The maximum speed recorded for 3 kilometers was 555.9 km / hi.e. 213.04 km / h faster than the previous record holder, the Extra 330 LE Aerobatic (2017). Not only that, over 15 kilometers he achieved a mark of 523.1 km / h, that is, 292.8 km / h faster.
But the speed of an airplane is not only measured at the same height, it is also important how fast it can go. From the ground at an altitude of 3,000 meters, 3 minutes and 22 seconds were enough, an improvement on the existing record in one minute. The maximum speed reached during the entire test was 623 km / h, no electric vehicle had ever done it before. Rolls-Royce PLC expects the International Aeronautical Federation to verify and make these records official.
What is the Rolls-Royce Spirit of Innovation like?
It is a single-engine, monoplane aircraft based on the Nemesis NXT, which is in itself a design to go fast – it is quite reminiscent of the best fighters of the 40s, but without weapons. The propeller moves at 2,200 RPM with an electric motor of 400 kW, that is, 544 CV. The batteries are made up of 6480 cells separated by layers of Portuguese cork, achieving a total voltage of 750 volts. No more energy-dense batteries have ever been mounted on a plane, they could recharge 7,500 mobile phones.
This device was created on the occasion of the ACCEL project (Accelerating the Electrification of Flight) in collaboration with the UK Government, the Aerospace Institute of Technology (ATI), Electroflight and YASA. They have had a smaller participation Jaguar Land Rover, that contributed vehicles for the test, and Bremont, a luxury watchmaker. The progress made with this prototype will be used in electric and hybrid aircraft for urban and peri-urban use, such as air taxis.
It is very remarkable that In the history of the FAI, such an increase in speed between one record and another has not been achieved in such a short time, which reminds us that a lot of progress is being made in the field of electric aviation. Rolls-Royce PLC is committed to having net zero emissions by 2030 at the operations level, and by 2050 at the product level.
