British luxury vehicle maker Rolls-Royce’s first electric plane completed its maiden flight on Saturday. Rolls-Royce’s first electric plane, dubbed the ‘Spirit of Innovation’, flew over the UK skies for about 15 minutes.
This one-seat aircraft uses a 6,000 cell battery pack with a three-motor powertrain that currently delivers 400 kW (over 500 horsepower). Rolls-Royce said the plane would eventually achieve speeds in excess of 300 mph.
Rolls-Royce said its airplane – dubbed the ‘Spirit of Innovation’, is a way through which company Helping to decarbonize important parts of the global economy.
Warren East, CEO of Rolls-Royce, said: “We are focused on producing the breakthrough technology society needs to decarbonize transport by air, land and sea, and capture the economic opportunity of transition to net zero. It’s not just about breaking a world record; the advanced battery and propulsion technology developed for this program has exciting applications. urban air mobility market and can help make ‘Jet Zero’ a reality.”
The company said the spirit of innovation is the result of a program called ACCEL or Accelerating the Electrification of Flight. Other partners in the initiative include YASA and Electroflight. YASA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz.
Nowadays, many airline companies are exploring building electric planes as air travel and cargo account for a higher amount of carbon emissions.
According to the International Energy Agency, carbon dioxide emissions from aviation reached about 1 metric gigatonne in 2019, which is about 2.8% of global CO2 emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels.
Last September, a hydrogen fuel-cell plane capable of carrying passengers took to the skies over England for its maiden flight.
In 2016, Solar Impulse 2, a manned aircraft powered by the Sun, managed to orbit the globe without using fuel.
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