It’s Official: Rolls-Royce 'Spirit of Innovation' Is the World’s Fastest All-Electric Aircraft

The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale verifies the experimental flight-development vehicle broke two world speed records for electric airplanes.

Thom Patterson

Thursday, January 20, 2022 at 12:49 PM ET

Verified

Rolls-Royce’s 'Spirit of Innovation' experimental flight-development vehicle has been officially recognized as the holder of two world speed records for electric aircraft. [Courtesy: Rolls-Royce]

Key Takeaways:

Rolls-Royce's "Spirit of Innovation" has been officially verified by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) as the world's fastest electric aircraft.
The aircraft set two new world records in November, achieving a maximum speed of 555.9 km/h (345.4 mph) over 3 kilometers and 532.1 km/h (330 mph) over 15 kilometers, significantly exceeding previous marks.
It features a 400 kW electric powertrain with 6,000 battery cells, described by Rolls-Royce as the "most power-dense propulsion battery pack ever assembled in aerospace," with potential applications for urban air mobility.

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Rolls-Royce (LSE:RR-.LN) can now say it with authority: Its Spirit of Innovation is now the fastest electric aircraft in the world.

The company announced Thursday that Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI)—the Switzerland-based organization that controls and certifies world aeronautical and astronautical records—has verified two records set by the airplane last November at the Ministry of Defense’s Boscombe Down test site: