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Rolls-Royce electric airplane smashes record, hits 387.4 mph

Just two months after its maiden flight, Rolls-Royce's "Spirit of Innovation" has hit a top speed of 387.4 mph, tentatively smashing the speed record for electric airplanes, Gizmodo has reported. It also claimed the top speed of 345.4 MPH over a 3 kilometer (1.86 mile) course and lowest time to a 3,000 meter (9,843 feet) altitude (202 seconds). The records have yet to be certified, but if the 345.5 mph speed stands, it would beat the current record of 213 mph — held by a Siemens-powered Extra 330LE — by an impressive 132 mph.  Rolls-Royce (the aviation, not the car company), conducted the tests on November 16 as part of its ACCEL (accelerating electrification of flight) project. To have the records certified, it's submitting the trials to the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), the body in charge of world aviation records. If confirmed, the speeds would be pretty impressive considering that the plane only made its maiden flight in September — suggesting that with more time, it could go even faster. 51690212450_7e8bcb3ad8_k View 12 Photos The Spirit of Innovation is an old-school "tail-dragger" airplane (steering at the rear) with the canopy pushed way back, and looks as fast as it goes. It's powered by a 400 kW (535 HP), 750 volt motor. Rolls-Royce said it uses the "most power-dense propulsion battery pack ever assembled in aerospace," with 6,480 cells.  As Engadget detailed in an explainer, electric airplanes aren't practical since current batteries are 50 times less energy dense than jet fuel. However, they do hold some promise for very short trips, like a 30 minute jaunt between Vancouver and Victoria in Canada. And unlike non-turbocharged ICE engines, electric motors retain full power as an airplane climbs, making them ideal for time-to-altitude record attempts — as the Spirit of Innovation has just shown.  Green Rolls-Royce

2015 Rolls-Royce Ghost Series II [w/video]

Rolls-Royce Director of Global Communications Richard Carter tells me that his storied employer is "a company that does not chase volume." In a perfect world, mused Carter, the carmaker would sell "one less" of its ultra-luxury vehicles than the fast-expanding world market demands.
And, thanks in no small part to the unprecedented success of the Series I Rolls-Royce Ghost that launched in 2010, the Brit brand seems well positioned to strike that perfect balance between exclusivity and record profits. In 2003 (the year in which the first BMW-backed Rolls rolled off the line in West Sussex), the company managed to sell around 500 cars. This year, with the first run of already-back-ordered Ghost Series II models still weeks away from delivery, the marque will top 4,000 units for the first time in its history.
Considering that each one of those "units" - a somewhat unsatisfying term for motor car this special ­- will gross Rolls-Royce $300,000 if we're being very conservative, you'll quickly see that creating a very desirable product for one of the best brands in the world negates the need to chase volume. The rich and free-spending are chasing this Ghost, instead.

2018 Rolls-Royce Phantom First Drive | When only the best will do

Lucerne, Switzerland – Every car, regardless of where it is designed, built, or sold, can be described as a series of compromises. From economy hatchbacks to midsize sedans, fullsize pickup trucks to hybrid supercars, meeting a very specific set of criteria means intentionally missing all the rest. And so it is with the Rolls-Royce Phantom. Except that the only compromise worth talking about is that the buyer must possess a price-is-no-object desire for perfection. Before handing over the keys to a brand-new, eighth-generation Phantom, and shortly after rattling off nearly every positive-tinged adjective in the English language, Rolls-Royce communication director Richard Carter tells us that this car represents "the best that humankind can do in terms of luxury automobiles." A heady claim, but as it turns out, one that is difficult to dispute. Perhaps the biggest single element that advances this new Phantom past the model it replaces is Rolls-Royce's new Architecture of Luxury, a ground-up spaceframe platform that doesn't share its bones with any other product currently under the BMW umbrella. Not only is it 30 percent stiffer than the seventh-gen Phantom, the new architecture is flexible enough that it will form the basis for all future Rolls-Royce products. "Project Cullinan and eventually the next Ghost, Wraith, Dawn will ride on this architecture, as well as future coachbuild projects," said Philip Koehn, Director of Engineering for Rolls-Royce. Rolls-Royce goes to great pains to make the Phantom as malleable to the whims of its customers as possible. Besides the obvious paint and interior color choices – of which there are a great many – there's now a so-called Gallery option that makes up a large portion of the dashboard. It's a glass-enclosed space designed to house just about anything a Phantom customer could possibly want to put on display. We saw some beautiful ceramic work, jewel-like shell designs, and even a swath of iridescent feathers. Directly in front of the driver is a digital gauge cluster designed to mimic the look of traditional dials. It's resolution is high enough that individual pixels can't be made out from the driver's seat. We think some classically styled gauges would be more in keeping with the Phantom's mission statement, but that's our only gripe inside, and it's minor.