At 555.9 kmph, this Rolls-Royce breaks record as world's fastest EV

All-electric Rolls-Royce aircraft - Spirit of Innovation - has been officially declared as the world's fastest all-electric vehicle with a top speed of 555.9 km/h over three kilometres. It broke the previous record set by the Siemens eAircraft powered Extra 330 LE Aerobatic aircraft in 2017 by 213.04 km/h.

In its further runs at the UK Ministry of Defence’s Boscombe Down experimental aircraft testing site, the electric aircraft reached a top speed of 532.1km/h over 15 kilometres, surpassing previous record by 292.8km/h. It also broke the record for the fastesttime to climb to 3,000 metres by 60 seconds, taking time of 202 seconds.

During its record-breaking runs,the Rolls-Royce aircraft reached a maximum top speed of 623km/h, making it the world’s fastest all-electric vehicle. The newly set world records have been officially verified by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) – the World Air Sports Federation. The agency controls and certifies world aeronautical and astronautical records.

On its record breaking runs, the electric aircraft was propelled by 400kW electric powertrain that is capable of creating more than 500 hp power and the most power-dense propulsion battery pack ever. The record flight attempt was taken by test pilot and Rolls-Royce Director of Flight Operations Phill O’Dell. “Breaking the world-record for all-electric flight is a momentous occasion. This is the highlight of my career and is an incredible achievement for whole team," he said.

For the record attempts, Rolls-Royce worked in partnership withaviation energy storage specialist Electroflight and automotive powertrain supplier YASA. Rolls-Royce says that theadvanced battery and propulsion technology that was developed for this programme also has applications for the Advanced Air Mobility market. “This is another milestone that will help make ‘jet zero’ a reality and supports our ambitions to deliver thetechnology breakthroughs society needs to decarbonise transport across air, land and sea," said Warren East, CEO, Rolls-Royce.

The Spirit of Innovation aircraft was a part of the ACCEL orAccelerating the Electrification of Flight project of Rolls-Royce.The project is half funded by the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI), in partnership with the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and Innovate UK.