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Rolls Royce Unveils Its World’s Fastest Electric Plane – PHOTOS
Rolls-Royce has unveiled what it hopes will be the world’s fastest all-electric aeroplane. The British luxury automobile maker unveiled the single-passenger, zero-emissions ACCEL project plane at the Gloucestershire airport in England, which is predicted to reach a top speed of over 300 mph (480 km/h) early next year.
The plane is part of a Rolls-Royce initiative called ACCEL – short for ‘Accelerating the Electrification of Flight’ and is a key part of Rolls-Royce’s strategy to champion electrification. The project involves a host of partners including electric motor and controller manufacturer YASA and the aviation start-up electron flight. Half of the project’s funding is provided by the aerospace technology institute (ATI), in partnership with the department for business, energy & industrial strategy and innovate the UK.
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The ionbird test airframe, named after the electrical technology propelling the aircraft, was also unveiled. The ionbird will be used to test the propulsion system before it is fully integrated into the plane. Planned tests over the next couple of months include running the propulsion system up to full power as well as key airworthiness checks.
ACCEL will have the most power-dense battery pack ever assembled for an aircraft, providing enough energy to fuel 250 homes or fly 200 miles (London to Paris) on a single charge. Its 6,000 cells are packaged to minimise weight and maximise thermal protection. an advanced cooling system ensures optimum performance by directly cooling cells during the high-power record runs.
The ACCEL project is just one of the ways in which Rolls-Royce is developing lower-carbon power. This includes partnering with airbus on the e-fan x technology demonstrator project, which is an important stepping stone towards hybrid-electric commercial aircraft at the scale of today’s single-aisle family.
See more of the photos below…
