Your flying Rolls-Royce propulsor taxi awaits.
Rolls-Royce has unveiled an electric vertical take-off and landing taxi at the 2018 Farnborough International Airshow, which will take to the skies in the early 2020s.
The Rolls-Royce EVTOL project uses gas turbine technology to generate electricity to power six electric propulsors specially designed to have a low noise profile. It also has a battery for energy storage. In this hybrid-EVTOL configuration it could carry four or five passengers at speeds up to 250mph for approximately 500 miles, would not require re-charging – as the battery is charged by the gas turbine – and would be able to use existing infrastructure such as heliports and airports.
The wings are able to rotate 90 degrees, enabling the vehicle to take off or land vertically. The propellers on the wing can fold away once the craft has reached cruising height, reducing drag and cabin noise, with the craft relying upon the two rear propellers for thrust.
The initial Rolls-Royce EVTOL concept uses an M250 gas turbine, modified as part of a hybrid electric propulsion system. The M250 has clocked up 220 million flying hours.
Rob Watson, who heads up Rolls-Royce’s Electrical team, told SFcrowsnest, “Electrification is an exciting and inescapable trend across industrial technology markets and while the move to more electric propulsion will be gradual for us, it will ultimately be a revolution.”
