Rolls Royce creates fastest all electric aircraft

[red750]

Rolls Royce had created an all-electric aircraft which has flown at 532.1 km/h over a 15 km course, beating the previous best of 292.8 km/h. The aircraft is called the Spirit of Innovation.

 

Video here.

 

[kgwilson]

RR continue their quest of innovation and development. Ever since they bought Bristol & had the services of probably the most gifted and innovative mathematician/ Engineer, Stanley Hooker, the world has ever seen, RR have produced some of the very best jet engines ever produced, & now are into small scale nuclear reactors as well as a multitude of other stuff

[APenNameAndThatA]

Sounds like they got an engineer to come up with the name, too. And not a very innovative one neither. 

[Thruster88]

This airframe with a standard 350hp lycoming is only slightly slower, the tuned up version is considerably quicker than the RR electric. 

 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_Nemesis_NXT

[kgwilson]

That really isn't the point though is it? It was not trying to compete with an ICE engine. It was proving what RR could get from existing EV technology and to highlight progress towards what they have called "jetzero" following the need for climate action highlighted during COP26.

 

https://www.rolls-royce.com/media/press-releases/2021/19-11-2021-spirit-of-innovation-stakes-claim-to-be-the-worlds-fastest-all-electric-vehicle.aspx

Edited January 21, 2022 by kgwilson

[rgmwa]

Interesting that the original Nemesis before the NXT version achieved a top speed of 252 kts using a Continental 100hp O-200 (rated at 135 hp).  Pretty impressive for a relatively small engine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_Nemesis

[turboplanner]

John Sharp in the Sharp Nemesis NXT did 655.1 km/hr (353,67) kts at Reno way back in 2009, compared to the Spirit of Innnovation's 532,1 km/hr.

Rolls Royce may not have been comparing it with Sharp's effort, but it's a straw man argument (We're the fastest electric) when the barrier is range.

 

Anyone who has raced or seen slot cars know's the explosive power you can generate with an electric motor.

In the 1990s I drive three different electric trucks in Japan - they all felt like a 5 litre V8 when I accelerated; I fell for it then - very exciting to drive but none of them on the market yet.

I bought a model Honda which would spin the wheels on the desk when you turned on a table lamp.

Someone has built an 800 hp ute, perhaps with the idea of towning a tri axle caravan at 170- km/hr.

 

In every one of these cases including the SOI the barrier is range.

 

Range is based on kilowatt hours

With a finite battery capacity; If you open the throttle and produce more kilowatts, you shorten the hours of range.

 

Currently petrol in a tank provides a practical range.

The Electric aircraft can't do that (The current Australian trip distance holder had a ground crew and two generators travgelling with him)

 

So the breakthrough we still need to see invented, which I've been waiting since 1986 for is a battery with the same mass, but several times the capacity.