Rolls-Royce, a major supplier of jet engines to airliners, has successfully completed the maiden voyage of its electric airplane, called “Spirit of Innovation.” According to Rolls-Royce, it is “the beginning of an intensive flight-testing phase in which we will be collecting valuable performance data on the aircraft’s electrical power and propulsion system.”
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The first flight was only about 15 minutes, with all initial tests completing successfully. The plane was built with “the most power-dense battery pack every assembled for an aircraft,” the company said in a statement. It has a 6,000-cell battery pack with a three-motor powertrain that currently delivers 400kW, which will be able to power the propellor driven plane to over 480 km/h.
As the drive towards renewable powertrains continues, many aircraft manufacturers have been exploring electric planes over the last several years. It is hoped that the cargo industry will be the first planes to move over to electric as the technology evolves, much like what the shipping cargo industry is looking to do.
Naturally, weight is a much bigger problem to solve for airplanes compared to cars. For example, the new electric Ford F-150 Lightning bakkie is about 800 kilograms heavier than its ICE (internal combustion engine) counterpart. Adding that much weight to a small passenger plane like a Cessna will mean it could barely get off the ground.
Rolls-Royce is also developing an air-taxi with manufacturer Tecnam, which aims to deliver an “all-electric passenger aircraft for the commuter market.”
This project was funded in part by the Aerospace Technology Institute and UK government. “This is not only about breaking a world record; the advanced battery and propulsion technology developed for this programme has exciting applications for the Urban Air Mobility market and can help make ‘jet zero’ a reality,” said Rolls-Royce CEO Warren East.
