—Rolls-Royce has just unveiled its 100% electric racing aircraft. The famous British firm hopes to break the world speed record and enter a world championship, the Air Race E.
Named ACCEL (Accelerating the Electrification of Flight), the aircraft aims to exceed the symbolic bar of 480 km / h.
A carbon fiber car with a range of 320 km
The aeronautical division of Rolls-Royce has just unveiled its first fully electric vehicle at Gloucestershire airport in England. Funded half by the British Aerospace Technology Institute, the device is a single-seater almost entirely made of carbon fibers.
But it is especially its 750 kW battery that impresses. Made up of 6,000 cells placed in front of the cockpit, it offers the aircraft a range of 320 km, the distance between London and Paris. In terms of speed, its objective is to exceed 480 km / h thanks to three electric motors supplied by YASA and providing 500 horsepower to the aircraft.
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World record in perspective?
The world record is currently held by an Extra 330, a German aerobatic aircraft powered by an electric motor developed by Siemens, which has managed to fly at a speed of 334 km / h.
Rolls-Royce still intends to carry out numerous tests on its new aircraft, in particular to check the behavior of the engine at full power, before entering the Air Race E speed race, otherwise known as the Formula E world cup. planes will start, for its first edition, in 2020 and will have the same regulations as vehicles in the Formula 1 category … but with electric vehicles and in the air.
Source: Electric Vehicles Research
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