Schlagwort-Archive: Rolls Royce

Rolls-Royce Sells Electric Flight Division

Rolls-Royce will sell its electric flight division as it focuses on improving profits in its jet engine business, under a new plan from its chief executive, Tufan Erginbilgiç. The FTSE 100 manufacturer will aim for record operating profits of between £2.5bn and £2.8bn a year, compared with £837m in 2022. Rolls-Royce has enjoyed much-improved performance over 2023 thanks to the end of coronavirus pandemic lockdowns and the recovery in air travel. The Derby-based engineering company makes jet engines for larger wide-body planes that are used generally for long-haul travel, so it has recovered more slowly than rival engine manufacturers.

However, Erginbilgiç has launched a wide-ranging effort to raise profits since joining in January, suggesting the company was too slow to raise its prices. Last month the company said it would cut 2,500 management and administration jobs, as part of an effort to cut costs. “Rolls-Royce is at a pivotal point in its history,” Erginbilgiç said. “We are creating a high-performing, competitive, resilient and growing Rolls-Royce that will have the financial strength to control and shape its destiny.” The company’s share price rose by nearly 7% on Tuesday morning as investors appeared to welcome the promise of higher profits.

Its jet engines division will have to push the hardest to meet the targets, with operating margins targeted to increase from 2.5% in 2022 to between 15% and 17% in the “midterm”, generally seen as about five years. However, Rolls-Royce will also try to push up profits in its defence business making engines for military jets and boats and nuclear reactors for submarines, as well as the power systems unit making civilian boat engines and generators. Erginbilgiç said: “We are confident in our ability to achieve these ambitions and have a clear and granular plan to deliver on our targets. We have made significant progress, with 2023 profit and cash forecast to be materially ahead of 2022.” The strategy represents Rolls-Royce doubling down on jet engines burning kerosene as the future of passenger flight, rather than electric technology that is increasingly focused on shorter journeys. That would mean Rolls-Royce would be dependent on the production of so-called sustainable aviation fuel to decarbonise its products. Source: ‚The Guardian‚.

Rolls-Royce tests its first hydrogen-powered plane engine

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A modern plane engine has been powered by hydrogen fuel for the first time — putting the aviation industry a step closer to its goal of going green. The challenge: Aviation is responsible for 1.9% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. When you compare that to, say, ground transportation, which is responsible for 11.9%, the industry doesn’t seem like a major part of our climate crisis. However, there is a straightforward way to decarbonize ground transportation: transition to electric vehicles, while decarbonizing the electric grid. We don’t have a comparable plan for aviation.

Aviation is responsible for 1.9% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The use of sustainable aviation fuel, made from biomass, can reduce an aircraft’s emissions by as much as 80%, but it doesn’t eliminate them. Today’s batteries, meanwhile, can power small planes on short flights, but they’re too heavy for large jets or longer trips. We need to figure out some way to do better than that, though, as UN experts predict emissions from aviation could triple by 2050, due to the steady increase of passenger and freight air transport.

The idea: Hydrogen fuel is a promising alternative for the aviation industry. It provides much more power by weight than batteries, and unlike other jet fuels, it doesn’t produce any lasting greenhouse emissions when burned — the only byproduct is water. If the fuel can be made to work with existing engines, it would also avoid the need to replace aircraft or engines to mitigate emissions.

What’s new? Now, British engineering firm Rolls-Royce and the airline easyJet have demonstrated for the first time that a modern plane engine can be safely powered by hydrogen fuel. The companies’ ground test took place at the UK’s Boscombe Down military aircraft testing site, and the engine was a converted Rolls-Royce AE 2100-A turboprop, which is used to power regional aircraft. If additional tests go well, the next step will be ground testing of hydrogen fuel in a Rolls-Royce Pearl 15 jet engine, designed for business jets, before moving on to flight tests.

The cold H2O: Hydrogen is abundant on Earth, but most of it is tied up with other elements, and the most common technique for producing pure hydrogen pulls it out of methane, releasing carbon dioxide in the process.

Alternatively, an electric current can be used to extract hydrogen from water, leaving behind only oxygen, but the process is expensive, and if the electricity is produced by fossil fuels, the climate benefits of the hydrogen fuel are minimized. Looking ahead: The electricity used to create Rolls-Royce’s hydrogen fuel came from wind and tidal power, but “green hydrogen” like that is scarce. For green hydrogen to play a significant role in aviation, we’ll need to dramatically increase the supply. Thankfully, while Rolls Royce works out the kinks of converting jet engines to run on hydrogen, others are looking for ways to scale up production, such as by using clean geothermal energy sourced from abandoned oil wells to power the process or by extracting hydrogen from saltwater at massive offshore wind farms. Source: ‚freethink.com‚.

‘Spirit of Innovation’ takes to the skies for the first time

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We are pleased to announce the completion of the first flight of our all-electric ‘Spirit of Innovation’ aircraft. At 14:56 (BST) the plane took to the skies propelled by its powerful 400kW (500+hp) electric powertrain with the most power-dense battery pack ever assembled for an aircraft. This is another step towards the plane’s world-record attempt and another milestone on the aviation industry’s journey towards decarbonisation.

Warren East, CEO, Rolls-Royce, said: “The first flight of the ‘Spirit of Innovation’ is a great achievement for the ACCEL team and Rolls-Royce. We are focused on producing the technology breakthroughs society needs to decarbonise transport across air, land and sea, and capture the economic opportunity of the transition to net zero. This is not only about breaking a world record; the advanced battery and propulsion technology developed for this programme has exciting applications for the Urban Air Mobility market and can help make ‘jet zero’ a reality.”

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “The first flight of Rolls-Royce’s revolutionary Spirit of Innovation aircraft signals a huge step forward in the global transition to cleaner forms of flight. This achievement, and the records we hope will follow, shows the UK remains right at the forefront of aerospace innovation. “By backing projects like this one, the Government is helping to drive forward the boundary pushing technologies that will leverage investment and unlock the cleaner, greener aircraft required to end our contribution to climate change.”

The aircraft took off from the UK Ministry of Defence’s Boscombe Down site, which is managed by QinetiQ and flew for approximately 15 minutes. The site has a long heritage of experimental flights and the first flight marks the beginning of an intense flight-testing phase in which we will be collecting valuable performance data on the aircraft’s electrical power and propulsion system. The ACCEL programme, short for ‘Accelerating the Electrification of Flight’ includes key partners YASA, the electric motor and controller manufacturer, and aviation start-up Electroflight. The ACCEL team have continued to innovate while adhering to the UK Government’s social distancing and other health guidelines.

Half of the project’s funding is provided by the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI), in partnership with the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and Innovate UK. In the run up to COP26, the ACCEL programme is further evidence of the UK’s position at the forefront of the zero-emission aircraft revolution.

“The first flight of the Spirit of Innovation demonstrates how innovative technology can provide solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges,” said Gary Elliott, CEO, Aerospace Technology Institute. “The ATI is funding projects like ACCEL to help UK develop new capabilities and secure a lead in the technologies that will decarbonise aviation. We congratulate everyone who has worked on the ACCEL project to make the first flight a reality and look forward to the world speed record attempt which will capture the imagination of the public in the year that the UK hosts COP26.”

Rolls-Royce is offering our customers a complete electric propulsion system for their platform, whether that is an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) or commuter aircraft. We will be using the technology from the ACCEL project and applying it to products for these exciting new markets. The characteristics that ‘air-taxis’ require from batteries are very similar to what is being developed for the ‘Spirit of Innovation’ so that it can reach speeds of 300+ MPH (480+ KMH) – which we are targeting in our world record attempt. In addition, 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.

In June, we announced our pathway to net zero carbon emissions – a year on from joining the UN Race to Zero campaign – and the ‘Spirit of Innovation’ is one way in which we are helping decarbonise the critical parts of the global economy in which we operate. We are committed to ensuring our new products will be compatible with net zero operation by 2030 and all our products will be compatible with net zero by 2050. Source: „Rolls Royce„.

Rolls-Royce auf Rekordkurs

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Rolls-Royce tritt selbstbewusst auf: Schon vor zwei Jahren hat der Konzern angekündigt, den Geschwindigkeitsrekord für ein Elektroflugzeug brechen zu wollen. Bisher ist das neue Modell des Konzerns noch gar nicht abgehoben, aber ein wichtiger Meilenstein sei nun erreicht, verkündet das Unternehmen. Der Weg zu einer neuen Generation von Elektroflugzeugen scheint frei zu sein. Elektromobilität ist nicht nur auf der Straße ein großer Hoffnungsträger für weitgehend CO2-freie Formen der Fortbewegung. Auch der Luftverkehr trägt unter normalen Reisebedingungen über 2,8 % zum weltweiten Ausstoß an Kohlenstoffdioxid bei. Das setzt die Branche enorm unter Druck. Doch bislang hat das Elektroflugzeug den Durchbruch noch nicht geschafft. Die Europäische Union hat als Klimaziel null Emissionen für das Jahr 2050 ausgerufen. Außerdem sinkt aus Umweltschutzgründen in weiten Teilen der Bevölkerung die Akzeptanz fürs Fliegen, was vor allem Kurzstreckenflüge betrifft. An neuen Antrieben kommen die Flugzeughersteller daher nicht vorbei. Und so ist es kein Wunder, dass Rekorde medienwirksam aufgestellt – und gebrochen werden. Ein schneller, leichter und effizientester Prototyp eines Elektroflugzeugs ist nämlich vor allem eines: Blaupause für eine neue Generation von Flugzeugen.

Jetzt scheint Rolls-Royce nach eigenen Aussagen kurz davor zu stehen, den Geschwindigkeitsrekord für ein Elektroflugzeug zu brechen. Noch kann aber einiges dazwischenkommen. Denn die Maschine mit dem klangvollen Namen „Spirit of Innovation“ ist bislang nicht abgehoben. Einen ersten Test hat sie trotzdem erfolgreich absolviert: Sie ist über die Landebahn gerollt. Für Laien klingt das nach einer unerheblichen Kleinigkeit, aber Flugzeugingenieure wissen, dass diese Aktion die grundsätzliche Funktionsfähigkeit des Antriebsstrangs demonstriert.

Rolls-Royce: Testflug mit Elektroflugzeug steht kurz bevor
Spirit of Innovation ist das Herzstück des sogenannten ACCEL-Projekts, das für „Accelerating the Electrification of Flight“ steht, was übersetzt so viel heißt wie „Beschleunigung der Elektrifizierung der Luftfahrt“. Neben Rolls-Royce ist daran das Unternehmen YASA beteiligt, das Elektromotoren und Steuergeräte entwickelt, sowie das Start-up Electroflight. Das Projekt wird vom Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) und dem Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy und Innovate UK gefördert. Denn auch Großbritannien will bis 2050 eine emissionsfreie Luftfahrt erreichen und investiert daher Geld in die entsprechenden Forschungsabteilungen. Quelle: ‚ingenieur.de‚.

Rolls-Royce will Elektro-Temporekord knacken

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Der britische Hersteller Rolls-Royce plant einen Geschwindigkeitsrekord mit einem Elektroflugzeug. Noch im Frühjahr dieses Jahres will Rolls-Royce einen neuen Geschwindigkeitsrekord für Elektroflugzeuge aufstellen. Dazu hat der britische Hersteller nun auf dem Flughafen von Gloucestershire das entsprechende Flugzeug vorgestellt. Es ist Teil des Projekts „Accelerating the Electrification of Flight“, verkürzt Accel, und heißt „Spirit of Innovation“. Das Elektroflugzeug soll maximal 300 Meilen pro Stunde fliegen können, also etwa 480 km/h. Der bisherige Temporekord für Flugzeuge mit einem Gewicht von bis zu 1000 kg, den ein Flieger mit Siemens-Elektromotor im Jahr 2017 aufgestellt hat, beträgt knapp 338 km/h. Für Accel kooperiert Rolls-Royce, das im Juni 2019 von Siemens das Geschäft für Elektro- und Hybrid-Antriebe übernommen hat, mit dem Elektromotor-Hersteller Yasa und mit dem Startup Electroflight. Die drei Elektromotoren des Accel haben zusammen eine Leistung von 368 kW. Der Propeller soll sich im Vergleich zu einem konventionellen Flugzeug langsamer drehen, damit der Flug stabiler und ruhiger wird, schreibt Rolls-Royce. Der Akku, dessen 6000 Zellen so gepackt sein sollen, dass sie möglichst wenig Gewicht verursachen, soll für einen Flug von London nach Paris reichen. Die Energieeffizienz soll während des geplanten Rekordflugs 90 Prozent betragen. Ein Formel-1-Auto komme auf 50 Prozent, teilte der Hersteller mit. Quelle: ‚Heise Online‚.