Rolls-Royce Gives First Look at One-Seater Electric Plane
December 20, 2019 | ReutersEstimated reading time: 1 minute
British engineering company Rolls-Royce gave a first look at a one-seater electric aircraft on Thursday it hopes will fly in late Spring next year and become the world’s fastest all-electric aircraft.
Growing concerns about climate change plus the recent spread of the “flight-shaming” movement on social media, and a promise by the aviation industry to cut carbon emissions, has made airlines hungry for progress on electric flying technology.
Aviation accounts for over 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions and passenger numbers are growing but zero-carbon, long-distance planes carrying hundreds of people are still decades away, aviation experts say.
Rolls-Royce unveiled the electric plane, which it is building with partners YASA and Electroflight and others and which will target a speed of over 300 miles per hour, at a hangar in Gloucestershire, western England.
The white plane has a blue trim and a bulging neck where its electric motor technology sits behind a propeller on its pointed nose.
Named ACCEL, the 6.5 million pound ($8.5 million) project will have the most power-dense battery pack ever assembled for an aircraft, Rolls-Royce said, providing enough fuel to fly 200 miles (320 km), or the distance between London and Paris, on a single charge.
Over the coming months, engineers will begin to integrate the electrical propulsion system into the airframe before a first flight by an experienced pilot in late Spring 2020 at a location yet to be decided, but possibly in the Welsh countryside.
Earlier this month in Canada, the world’s first fully electric commercial flight took off and flew for 15 minutes, but some attempts have been less successful and a battery-powered aircraft crash-landed in Norway in August.
Plane-makers Boeing and Airbus are both working on electric planes, say experts, while Rolls-Royce bought Siemens eAircraft, a developer of electric and hybrid-electric propulsion systems for planes, in June.
Suggested Items
Key Tronic Announces Results for Q3 of Fiscal Year 2024
05/08/2024 | Globe NewswireFor the third quarter of fiscal year 2024, Key Tronic reported total revenue of $140.5 million, compared to $164.6 million in the same period of fiscal year 2023.
Fabrinet Announces Q3 Fiscal Year 2024 Financial Results
05/07/2024 | FabrinetFabrinet, a leading provider of advanced optical packaging and precision optical, electro-mechanical and electronic manufacturing services to original equipment manufacturers of complex products, today announced its financial results for its third fiscal quarter ended March 29, 2024.
Tablet Shipments Show Signs of Recovery in Q1 2024
05/06/2024 | IDCAfter more than two years of decline, worldwide tablet shipments posted modest year-over-year growth of 0.5% in the first quarter of 2024 (1Q24), totaling 30.8 million units, according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker.
Benchmark Reports Q1 2024 Results
05/03/2024 | PRNewswireRevenue decreased quarter over quarter and year over year primarily due to decreases in Medical, Advanced Computing and Next-Generation Communication sales, which were partially offset by an increase in Complex Industrials sales quarter-over-quarter and increases in Semi-Cap and A&D sales year-over-year.
TTM Technologies Reports First Quarter 2024 Results
05/02/2024 | TTM TechnologiesTTM Technologies, Inc., a leading global manufacturer of technology solutions including mission systems, radio frequency components and RF microwave/microelectronic assemblies, quick-turn and technologically advanced printed circuit boards , reported results for the first quarter 2024, which ended on April 1, 2024.