Rolls-Royce’s Inexplicable Abandonment of its EVTOL entry
Below is an announcement by venerable aerospace powerplant innovator, Rolls-Royce, that it is withdrawing from the development of an eVTOL. That news is most dismaying, in that that well-financed company supported Sir Frank Whittle in the far riskier of the turbine jet engine.
As the FAA Administrator recently cogently commented, eVTOLs constitute the first major aircraft classification since the 1940s. These innovative flight machine pose attractive market opportunities– urban mobility, first responding capabilities, logistics, etc. The race to be the first certificated has been recognized to demand both:
- To develop, from ab initio, design of a new aerial vehicle (tilt rotor, energy source, control/navigation, passenger safety and “autonomous” operation)
and
- securing massive capital required for this over-the-horizon technology as well as carefully managing the spending of those fund
This marathon, not a sprint, has been the topic of analysts and their opinions of how competitors are dealing with this dual challenge:
- eVTOL evolution- what, when, how?
- Valuable Air Safety Lessons from a JOBY eVTOL accident
- Lessons for Insightful comparison of 2 leading eVTOL TC applicants
There are well-respected authorities who are not so optimistic; two among a few such opinions:
- Bursting the eVTOL bubble
- These 7 eVTOLs will Be Flying in the Next Two Years
- N.B. although the title is positive THREE HAVE ALREADY FAILED!
What makes the RR announcement even more inscrutable is that on October 22, 2024 the FAA released its policy Integration of Powered-Lift: Pilot Certification and Operations; Miscellaneous Amendments Related to Rotorcraft and Airplanes – Final Rule. In response, the commentary has been almost uniformly positive:
- Industry Leaders React to New Pilot and Operational Standards as the U.S. Takes a Critical Step Toward Scaling eVTOL and AAM Innovations
- One example, “This performance-based rule is a critical step forward in enabling the eVTOL-segment of the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) industry to launch and scale. We applaud the FAA for issuing the regulation in compliance with Congressionally mandated timelines and making changes from the draft rule to the final rule that ensure the U.S. will maintain global leadership in this critical segment of advanced aviation. This is a tremendous milestone, and there is much to celebrate with this rule.”
- Leading eVTOL developers react as FAA approves revolutionary aircraft category
Rolls-Royce was expected to be a leader in the eVTOL sector; its history is replete with spectacular powerplant successes. Its departure could not have been justified by technology and financial risk—its strength refutes those excuses. Further, RR was an early leader. Its CEO came to the company based on a career outside of aviation?
Might some entrepreneur see this demise as an opportunity to but the technology and the RR staff who have the knowledge.
Rolls-Royce closes down electric flying taxi operations
The move into electric flying taxis was meant to be a showcase of the aero-engineer’s electric aviation development
November 7. 2024
Rolls-Royce has formally pulled out of the electric flying taxi business, closing down its operations, which had been much-hyped under the aerospace and engineering group’s previous management.
Almost exactly three years ago, Rolls-Royce’s Spirit of Innovation, an aircraft looking not dissimilar to a Spitfire for the 21st century, smashed the electric air speed record by 120mph, clocking 345mph in the skies over southern England from its base at RAF Boscombe Down.
It was not only a showcase of Rolls-Royce’s electric aviation development, acquired from Siemens of Germany three years earlier, but was a signal that the company was serious about its future application in electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, known as eVTOLs or flying taxis.
That all changed, however, with the departure of Warren East, the former Rolls-Royce chief executive who had championed the project. When TUFAN ERGINBILGIC arrived in January 2022 to replace him he doubted the timelines of when it would become reality and worried about the amount of money the development of powerful batteries and motors would suck in.
Despite the programme having received UK taxpayer support, this time last year he declared that the business was up for sale and in the spring Rolls-Royce pulled out its financial and technology support of Britain’s would-be eVTOL champion, the Bristol-based Vertical Aerospace.
In a trading update on Thursday, Rolls-Royce confirmed that, having failed to find a buyer for its Advanced Air Mobility division, the decision had been taken in September to close it down.
The nascent in-development flying taxi market is at a crossroads. VERTICAL AEROSPACE, with its share price bombed out on the Nasdaq stock exchange, is seeking emergency funding to keep its dream alive. A German eVTOL rival LILIUM went bust last month having burned through $1 billion.
While that is within the expected range set by Rolls for the full year of between 100 per cent and 110 per cent, analysts said the figure at the nine-month stage was a little light on their estimates. The long-term contracts Rolls has with airlines mean they don’t get paid for the engines upfront but over the length of service agreements and those payments are dependent on how much the planes with Trent engines fly.
[Deleted extensive discussion of finances and non-aviation opportunities.]
Having persuaded the credit ratings agency to return the company’s debt to investment grade, Erginbilgic has signalled that the dividend for equity shareholders will return in the new year. “Our transformation of Rolls-Royce into a high-performing, competitive, resilient and growing business continues with pace and intensity,” he said.
