Rolls-Royce’s electric aircraft completes first flight of 15 minutes

Hyderabad: The electrification journey of the automobile industry is slowly picking pace and now the aviation industry is also looking at making its mark felt in this space. A recent announcement by Rolls-Royce seems to be making the first step towards the electrification process of the aviation industry. The British luxury automobile maker announced the completion of the first flight of its all-electric aircraft called ‘Spirit of Innovation’.

The plane took to the skies propelled by its powerful 400kW (500+hp) electric powertrain with the most power-dense battery pack ever assembled for an aircraft. The aircraft took off from the UK Ministry of Defence’s Boscombe Down site and flew for approximately 15 minutes.

Warren East, CEO, Rolls-Royce, said, “The first flight of the ‘Spirit of Innovation’ is a great achievement. We are focused on producing the technology breakthroughs society needs to decarbonise transport across air, land and sea, and capture the economic opportunity of the transition to net zero. This is not only about breaking a world record; the advanced battery and propulsion technology developed for this programme has exciting applications for the Urban Air Mobility market and can help make ‘jet zero’ a reality.”

Rolls-Royce is offering its customers a complete electric propulsion system for their platform, whether that is an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) or commuter aircraft. In addition, Rolls-Royce and airframer Tecnam are currently working with Widerøe, the largest regional airline in Scandinavia, to deliver an all-electric passenger aircraft for the commuter market, which is planned to be ready for revenue service in 2026.

“We are committed to ensuring our new products will be compatible with net zero operation by 2030 and all our products will be compatible with net zero by 2050,” the company said.