3 World Records: Rolls-Royce Develops Fully Electric Aircraft

The Spirit of Innovation, a fully electric aircraft developed by the English company Rolls-Royce, has set three world records at once. The application for the recognition of these achievements has already been submitted to the FAI (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale), reports Simple Flying.

According to the manufacturer, first and foremost, the Spirit of Innovation has become the fastest fully electric aircraft in the world. It achieved a speed of 555.9 km/h over a distance of 3 km, surpassing the previous record of 213.04 km/h set by Siemens’ Extra 330LE electric-powered aircraft in April 2017.

The Spirit of Innovation set a new speed record of 532.1 km/h over a distance of 15 km, which is 92.8 km/h faster than the previous achievement. The third record was established by the aircraft, climbing to an altitude of 3,000 meters in 202 seconds, exceeding the previous record by 60 seconds.

According to representatives of Rolls-Royce, the maximum speed of the Spirit of Innovation reached 623 km/h during these record-setting flights. This makes it the fastest all-electric aircraft in history.

Moreover, the Spirit of Innovation completed its first test flight in September. It took off from the Boscombe Down military airfield in Wiltshire, England, remained airborne for about 15 minutes, and then successfully landed.