Rolls-Royce is best known for its cars, but it also has an electric airplane. It took the aircraft called the Spirit of Innovation for a spin, breaking a couple of world records in the process.
Rolls-Royce says that the Spirit of Innovation set several world records. It achieved a top speed of 555.9 km/h (345.4 mph) over the distance of 3 kilometres, which is nearly triple the previous record of 213.06 km/h (132mph). It achieved a speed of 532.1 km/h (330 mph) over 15 kilometres, which is another world first, and it was able to climb to 3000 metres in 202 seconds.
The company submitted its data to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale and hopes that the records will be made official.
Rolls-Royce says that the airplane is the world's fastest all-electric vehicle, be it on air, sea, or land.
The director of flight operations and test pilot for Rolls-Royce said that flying at these incredible speeds and believing we have broken the world-record for all-electric flight is a momentous occasion. This is the highlight of my career and it is an incredible achievement for the whole team.
Rolls-Royce says that the most power-dense battery pack ever assembled in aircraft is used in the Spirit of Innovation. Rolls-Royce collaborated with aviation energy storage specialist Electroflight, and automotive powertrain supplier YASA to build the airplane.
