Renowned UK-based propulsion and technology systems group Rolls-Royce announced on Thursday that its ‘Spirit of Innovation’ technology demonstrator aircraft had been officially declared the world’s fastest all-electric aircraft. The international body responsible for controlling and certifying aeronautical and astronautical records, the Fédération Aéronautique International, had officially verified the new records set by the aircraft, over measured distances of 3 km and 15 km respectively.

The 3-km record was set on November 16 last year, with the ‘Spirit of Innovation’ maintaining a speed of 555.9 km/h (345.4 mph) over that distance. This broke the previous such record by 213.04 km/h (132 mph). During further flights the aircraft set a new 15-km speed record of 532.1 km/h (330 mph), smashing the previous record by 292.8 km/h (182 mph). The fastest speed actually reached by the plane was 623 km/h (387.4 mph).

The ‘Spirit of Innovation’ was developed under the UK’s ‘Accelerating the Electrification of Flight’ (ACCEL) project. This has been a public-private partnership (PPP), with 50% of the funding provided by the UK Aerospace Technology Institute (itself a PPP) in conjunction with the UK government’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, and UK State research funding agency Innovate UK. Rolls-Royce’s industrial partners in the project are automotive power train producer YASA and aviation energy storage startup company Electroflight. For the 3-km record flight, the aircraft was flown by Rolls-Royce test pilot and director of flight operations Phil O’Dell, and for the 15-km record flight it was flown by Electroflight pilot Steve Jones.

The aircraft is powered by a 400 kW (more than 500 hp) electric propulsion system. This draws energy from the most power-dense propulsion battery pack ever put together in the aerospace sector.

“Achieving the all-electric world-speed record is a fantastic achievement for the ACCEL team and Rolls-Royce,” enthused Rolls-Royce CEO Warren East. “This is another milestone that will help make ‘jet zero’ [carbon emissions] a reality and supports our ambitions to deliver the technology breakthroughs society needs to decarbonise transport across air, land and sea.”

“We are delighted to have played an integral role in this landmark project,” highlighted Electroflight MD Stjohn Youngman. “Its success is a fitting tribute to the dedication and innovation of the Electroflight team and our suppliers. Developing the propulsion and battery system, in collaboration with experienced programme partners, has resulted in a world-class engineering capability that will lead the way towards the decarbonisation of air travel. Our next step is to adapt this pioneering technology so it can be applied across the wider aerospace industry to deliver a more sustainable way to fly.”

“Electric flight is set to be as transformative for mobility as the jet engine was 70 years ago,” emphasised YASA chief technology officer Dr Tim Woolmer. “It’s thrilling to see our ultra-high performance, super-low-weight electric motors powering the ‘Spirit of Innovation’ to these great speeds, and to know that collaborative projects like ACCEL take us one step closer to emissions-free electric flight becoming a commercial reality for all.”