Rolls-Royce does not see a future for electric and hydrogen planes

The Rolls-Royce name is best known for luxury cars, but the British have their main business (as a separate company) in aircraft engines. They are also leaders in this area and do a lot of research – with very clear results.

Airplanes should be cleaner – but how?

Yesterday Virgin Atlantic completed a very unique journey, namely the first transatlantic ferry based on low carbon fuel. In particular, Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) was used, which is a general term for aviation fuel that is not only based on crude oil, but also on biological raw materials – as a mixture of different compositions.

The distribution of SAF has not yet been commercially successful, which is also shown by the fact that, according to the news agency Reuters the flight that operated the current flight will return from New York to London using regular jet fuel.

However, Rolls-Royce took this long-distance demonstration (SAF has already been used several times on short routes) as an opportunity to express loyalty to this type of energy source – and at the same time reject electricity and hydrogen. Rolls-Royce CEO Tufan Erginbilgiç said it was time for his company to sell its electric engine division. In particular, drives for electric taxis and so on are made there. Erginbilgiç, who is known as a ruthless rescuer, announced in a statement (via Electrek), that the company needed to make “resource allocation decisions” and that the power business would provide “better value to a third party.”

It also rejects hydrogen

There was also a clear rejection of hydrogen, because although Rolls-Royce continues to work with EasyJet in this area, the head of the engine manufacturer does not see a real future here. Because Erginbilgiç said that hydrogen will not be a practical solution for long-distance flights for a long time.

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