World’s fastest electric plane

The Rolls-Royce ‘Spirit of Innovation’ has set three new world records as the fastest electric aircraft in the world.

The Derby-based company has submitted data to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) – the World Air Sports Federation who control and certify world aeronautical and astronautical records – that at 15:45 (GMT) on 16 November 2021, the aircraft reached a top speed of 555.9 km/h (345.4mph) over 3km, smashing the existing record by 213.04 km/h (132mph). In further runs at the UK Ministry of Defence’s Boscombe Down experimental aircraft testing site, the aircraft achieved 532.1km/h (330 mph) over 15km – 292.8km/h (182mph) faster than the previous record – and broke the fastest time to climb to 3000m by 60sec with a time of 202sec.

The actual top speed was 623 km/h (387.4mph).

Warren East, CEO, Rolls-Royce is justifiably proud of the achievement: “Staking the claim for the all-electric world-speed record is a fantastic achievement for the Accel team and Rolls-Royce. I would like to thank our partners and especially Electroflight for their collaboration in achieving this pioneering breakthrough. The advanced battery and propulsion technology developed for this programme has exciting applications for the Advanced Air Mobility market. Following the world’s focus on the need for action at COP26, this is another milestone that will help make ‘jet zero’ a reality and supports our ambitions to deliver the technology breakthroughs society needs to decarbonise transport across air, land and sea.”

www.rolls-royce.com

www.accel.com

www.electro-flight.com

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