Rolls-Royce invests £80m in electric aircraft energy storage tech

In order to deliver this technology, the company is planning an £80 million investment in ESS over the next decade.

This investment will create around 300 jobs by 2030 and strengthen Rolls-Royce’s position as a leading supplier of all-electric and hybrid-electric power and propulsion systems for aviation.

Aerospace-certified ESS solutions from Rolls-Royce will power electric and hybrid-electric propulsion systems for eVTOLs (electric vertical takeoff and landing) in the urban air mobility market and fixed-wing aircraft, with up to 19 seats, in the commuter market.

By 2035, Rolls-Royce is planning to integrate more than five million battery cells per annum into modular systems. These modules will deliver market-leading energy density levels.

Rob Watson, director of electrical at Rolls-Royce, said: “This multi-million-pound investment by Rolls-Royce over the next decade is another demonstration of our ambitions in electrification. We are developing a portfolio of energy storage solutions to complement our electrical propulsion systems. This will ensure that we can offer our customers a complete electric propulsion system for their platform, whether that is an eVTOL or a commuter aircraft. It will enable us to be a ‘one-stop shop’ for all-electric or hybrid-electric propulsion systems, which is incredibly exciting as these new markets develop and expand.”

Rolls-Royce has been delivering battery solutions for many years and has designed 10 different aerospace battery systems, using state-of-the-art cell technology. Of these batteries, four designs have already flown in three aircraft, accumulating more than 250 hours of flight experience and another two designs will complete their first flight in aircraft in 2021.

This includes a battery developed with Electroflight, Rolls-Royce’s UK manufacturing partner in the ACCEL programme, in which the Spirit of Innovation aircraft was built, aiming to be the world’s fastest all-electric plane.

Battery pack design is a mechanical, thermal and containment design challenge and there has to be a strong focus on safety and low weight. These aspects are core to all the products that Rolls-Royce has a long history of producing in aerospace.

Rolls-Royce and airframer Tecnam are currently working with Widerøe – the largest regional airline in Scandinavia – to deliver an all-electric passenger aircraft for the commuter market, which is planned to be ready for revenue service in 2026. Rolls-Royce will deliver the entire electrical propulsion system including an energy storage system for the new P-VOLT aircraft.

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