Rolls-Royce Confirms Electric Testbed Work at Cranfield

Responding to speculation sparked by online videos of an eVTOL test airframe at Cranfield University, Rolls-Royce has acknowledged that it is working on plans to power eVTOL aircraft.

Rolls-Royce testbed at Cranfield — Rolls-Royce is using a tiltwing-configured eVTOL ground testbed to evaluate electric and hybrid-electric propulsion systems. (Image: Hari Venkitaraman via Reddit/aerospace)

By Charles Alcock • Managing Editor

October 15, 2020

Rolls-Royce has confirmed that it is using a ground-based testbed to evaluate plans for electric and hybrid-electric propulsion systems that it may develop for eVTOL aircraft. The aircraft engines group issued a statement on its plans after images and video appeared online via Reddit on October 13 showing a large-scale, tiltwing eVTOL aircraft with six propellers. By October 16, the video had been removed from Reddit.

A spokeswoman for Rolls-Royce told FutureFlight that its engineering team is involved in work at Cranfield University’s Aerospace Integration Research Centre that involves a “research rig aimed at helping us to understand the propulsion system requirements for future electric and hybrid-electric aircraft.”

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