Rolls-Royce to launch all-electric plane in 2020

The racing plane is hoped to be the fastest electric plane in existence.

Rolls-Royce
  • The electric aircraft industry is just starting to get off the ground, with Siemens breaking the world record for the fastest electric aircraft in 2017.
  • With ACCEL (Accelerating the Electrification of Flight), Rolls-Royce intends to beat that record in the spring of 2020.
  • While these are existing developments, the field of electric aviation has significant challenges to face before we can expect to see electric long-distance passenger planes.
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Boeing to halt production of the 737 as FAA continues review

Following two deadly crashes, the FAA has been engaged in a lengthy review process of the Boeing 737. With recent news that the review may continue into 2020, Boeing has opted to halt production of the plane.

Gary He/Getty Images
  • Boeing has decided to halt the production of the 737 Max after the FAA announced that its review of the plane will extend into 2020.
  • After two recent and deadly crashes, the FAA has grounded all 737-model planes.
  • The news spells financial trouble for Boeing, especially since another one of its major planes — the 787 Dreamliner — has been receiving significant quality complaints.
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Are solar-powered airships the future of cargo delivery?

New technology offers us a look at the green future of aviation and cargo shipping.

The French company Flying Whales aims to deliver cargo to remote areas via airships by 2023.
Photo courtesy of Flying Whales.
  • A solar-powered airship built by a U.K.-based company could be a groundbreaking way to freight cargo internationally with lower emissions, and a big step towards a 100 percent renewable world.
  • Varialift's airship will use helium gas to lift off, which is a great deal safer than the hydrogen that airships of the past used.
  • It's been estimated that the cost of the Varialift aircraft would be comparable to a jumbo jet.
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NASA to test its first all-electric plane, the X-57

NASA
  • The experimental X-57 Maxwell is the agency's first all-electric plane.
  • It will also be the first manned X-plane that NASA has tested in decades.
  • Electric planes could help to significantly lower the environmental costs of flying, but it'll likely be at least a decade before these aircraft hit the commercial market.
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The world needs carbon-neutral flying. Here’s how to bring it one step closer.

We need electric planes, sustainable aviation fuels, and hybrid propulsion now, not later.

In the year when the Swedish word "flygskam" (flight-shaming) hit the news in Europe, public concern about carbon emissions from aviation is endangering the sector's social license to operate.

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