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Rolls-Royce has announced that its all-electric aircraft, the Spirit of Innovation, has broken at least three speed records set in 2017.
The British engineering firm says its plane reached a top speed of 623 kilometers per hour earlier this week during tests at an airfield in Amesbury, southern England.
The Spirit of Innovation would have reached a top speed from 555.9 km / h in three kilometers and 532.1 km / h in 15 kilometers. According to Rolls-Royce, it was also the fastest electric aircraft to reach 3,000 meters in altitude with a time of 202 seconds, cutting the previous record by 60 seconds.
The figures are not official, but have been sent to the International Aeronautical Federation for verification.
Previous records were set in 2017 by the Siemens eAircraft powered Extra 330 LE aerobatic aircraft (a company later acquired by Rolls-Royce itself). The speed record was 337 km / h, 213.04 km / h less. The Siemens plane reached 3,000 meters in 262 seconds.
Created by Rolls-Royce in collaboration with electric motor and controller maker YASA Limited and aviation startup Electroflight, the Spirit of Innovation uses a 400 kW electric powertrain, the equivalent of a 542-horsepower supercar.
Roll-Royce claims the plane has the highest density battery pack ever assembled by the aerospace industry, with enough power to charge 7,500 phones.
“This is another milestone that will help make ‘jet zero’ a reality,” Warren East, Rolls-Royce CEO, said in a statement.
Rolls-Royce expects the International Aeronautical Federation to officially certify and confirm the new world records in the near future.
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