Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LON:RR.) has agreed to buy an electric aerospace propulsion unit from Siemens that it said would help it bring about a “new class of quieter and cleaner air transport”.
The deal for the eAircraft business, which is based in Germany and Hungary and has been developing a range of all-electric and hybrid electric propulsion solutions for the aerospace industry, was made for an undisclosed sum, with both companies agreeing to look for opportunities to work together on emissions-reducing technologies.
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Rolls-Royce has worked with the eAircraft team on the E-Fan X demonstrator project which is expected to demonstrate hybrid electric propulsion at the scale required to power regional aircraft.
“Electrification is set to have as dramatic an impact on aviation as the replacement of piston engines by gas turbines,” said Rob Watson, director of the FTSE 100 group’s Electrical division.
“We are at the dawn of the third era of aviation, which will bring a new class of quieter and cleaner air transport to the skies.”
Having already made strides in electrification, the company said the eAircraft acquisition will “accelerate the delivery of our electrification strategy" and boost its ambition to play a major role in this new era of aviation, adding technology, scale and around 180 specialist electrical designers and engineers.
Electrification a solution to conflicting demands
Paul Stein, Rolls-Royce’s chief technology officer, added: “To support the rising demand for air travel while achieving CO2 emissions targets, the aviation industry is developing increasingly environmentally friendly technologies and practices.”
He said the company, which has been undergoing a restructuring that has included cost cuts, engineering efficiency improvements and the disposal of its commercial marine business, believes that pure electric, or all-electric, propulsion will power smaller aircraft in the foreseeable future, while larger aircraft will rely upon hybrid electric solutions that combine electrification with evolutions of the gas turbine.
Ground tests have been carried out of a hybrid-electric propulsion system using a Rolls-Royce M250 gas turbine, which could be used across a range of smaller transport platforms including hybrid electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles, general aviation aircraft, and hybrid helicopters. Experimental test flights are pencilled in for 2021.
Rolls-Royce shares were up 2.5% to 928.36p on Tuesday afternoon.