Rolls-Royce concept of an all-electric aircraft
Power systems provider Rolls-Royce is leading a highly specialised challenge of building the world’s fastest all-electric aircraft, which is planned to take flight in 2020 on the Welsh coastline.
The zero-emissions plane is expected to travel at a target speed of more than 300 miles per hour (mph), or more than 480 km/h, for more than 200 miles – for example, London to Paris, Nairobi to Mombasa, or Johannesburg to Durban.
The aircraft will consist of three lightweight electric motors, generating 750 kW.
Rolls-Royce, in partnership with ElectroFlight and YASA, has already started on the development of the single-passenger, 24 ft wingspan aircraft, which has a total anticipated development time of 24 months up to 2020.
The Acceleration of Flight initiative, which the aircraft forms part of, is the company’s bid to build, test and commercialise a specially designed aircraft powered entirely by megawatts.
The aircraft will be subject to test environments this year, before going for gold in 2020 to break the current speed record for an all-electric plane, which was set by Siemens in 2017 at 210 mph.