British engine maker Rolls-Royce last year in July had revealed its plan to develop a hybrid electric vehicle, the flying taxi that could be airborne within five years. And now, the company has announced the development of an electric plane that is trying to break the world record recorded in 2013. Rolls-Royce is building what it hopes will be the world’s fastest electric aeroplane in the world.
Partly funded by the Government, the project is part of Rolls Royce’s ACCEL initiative which is billed as chief of the “third wave” of aviation. An announcement by the company states that it is all set to build an electric aircraft which is in the hope of making a run for the record books and breaking the speed record with a target speed of 300+ MPH.
The Rolls-Royce electric plane is slated to take to the skies next year and is part of the group that involves a host of partners, including electric motor and controller manufacturer YASA and the aviation start-up Electroflight.
To achieve over 300 mph and to set a new ePlane record, the Rolls-Royce team is working on a battery pack of 6,000 cells that the company claims is the most energy-dense to ever be installed in an aircraft. When up and running, the powertrain will run at 750 V, and the plane will boast a maximum power of 750 kW. Meanwhile, sensors will monitor 20,000 points in the powertrain to provide the engineers with plenty of data on performance.
The zero-emission Rolls-Royce aircraft, designed by a team of engineers and data specialists, is set forth to make its first flight in 2020 from a landing strip on the Welsh coastline.
