Rolls-Royce Aims to Build the 'Fastest' Electric Aircraft in the World

Rolls-Royce, a leading company in aviation, plans to launch an electric aircraft that it claims will be the fastest electric plane in the world. With the emergence of electric vehicles, some expected electric airplanes to enter the market soon. However, the weight of batteries, limited range, and the risk of battery explosions or overheating have posed new challenges for the development of this vehicle. Nevertheless, Rolls-Royce has announced that it has managed to solve some of these problems and will introduce the 'fastest' electric aircraft in 2020. This aircraft has a speed of 480 kilometers per hour, which is considered very low compared to jet engines or turbofans. Currently, Siemens' electric aircraft, with a speed of about 340 kilometers per hour, holds the title of the fastest electric aircraft in the world. Experts hope that this product can popularize a new generation of third-generation aircraft in global aviation; aircraft that are intended to be electric and autonomous. However, this endeavor faces many complexities, as even in automobiles, it takes at least twenty years for widespread adoption, and technical issues in the aviation industry are significantly more complex. To build this electric aircraft, Rolls-Royce is collaborating with YASA and Electroflight companies. These aircraft are lightweight and propeller-driven, and they even have lower speeds than gasoline-powered propeller types. The highest speed recorded for a gasoline propeller aircraft is close to 600 kilometers per hour. One of the biggest challenges for Rolls-Royce is storing electrical energy in batteries. Approximately six thousand energy storage cells are being utilized for this purpose. The electric motor of this aircraft has a power of 750 kilowatts, which is less than some super sports cars. Rolls-Royce is making every effort to reduce weight and minimize the heat generated by batteries under high pressure. The efficiency of this system is reported to be very high, around 90 percent. However, some critics argue that producing this equipment is merely a way to gloss over the issue, as most of the world's electricity is generated from highly polluting methods, and unlike internal combustion engines, the turbine engines used in airplanes have higher efficiencies than some power plants that convert fossil energy into electrical energy. This means producing more power with less pollution and energy. In contrast, supporters of electric airplanes speak of the high efficiency of electric motors and believe that the world will become a better place to live as it moves towards generating electricity from renewable energy sources. Currently, however, a very small percentage of the world's electrical energy comes from renewable sources, and critics argue that by putting pressure on power networks to supply electricity for vehicles and airplanes, countries will move towards generating electricity from more polluting sources such as coal in the future. Despite all this, there remains the possibility that the next generation of aircraft will largely be electric and autonomous (pilotless). Recently, Reuters reported that Boeing plans to test some technologies related to building pilotless aircraft in the coming years. Although passenger planes can currently perform part of the flight process using computers in the cockpit, the supervision of the pilot and co-pilot over the entire flight is necessary so that they can take control at the right time in case of system errors or critical situations.