Rolls-Royce has been working on electric aviation for a while and has decided that it wants to produce the fastest electric airplane in the sky.
Furthermore, it’s beyond the concept or visualization phase.
Rolls-Royce has tested the technology for this on what’s called an “ionBird,” which means “a full-scale replica of the plane’s core.”
Here are details of the potential record-setting electric aircraft:
- At full speed in the flight-testing phase, the propeller could propel the aircraft to more than 300 mph.
- More than 6,000 battery cells packaged into the battery pack.
The electric airplane includes 500hp and “a battery with enough energy to supply 250 homes” — though, exact energy capacity (or power capacity) is not given.
This Rolls-Royce initiative is know as ACCEL, which stands for “Accelerating the Electrification of Flight.” They have also been developing operating procedures for electric flight in the process of building this prototype.
British electric powertrain company YASA is a partner, as is Electroflight, an electric aviation startup.
Rolls-Royce is committed to playing a leading role in reaching net zero carbon by 2050. The completion of ground-testing for the ACCEL project is a great achievement for the team and is another important step towards a world record attempt.
This project is also helping to develop Rolls-Royce’s capabilities and ensure that it remain a leader in delivering the electrification of flight, an important part of the sustainability strategy.
This is a Syndicate News Feed; edited by Clean-Future Team