Rolls-Royce share price: Group races to build world’s fastest electric plane

Rolls-Royce Holdings (LON:RR) is building what it hopes will be the world’s fastest electric aeroplane, the blue-chip company has said. The zero-emissions aircraft is scheduled to take to the skies next year.

Rolls-Royce’s share price has fallen into the red in London in today’s session, having given up 1.52 percent to 817.40p as of 14:53 GMT. The stock is underperforming the broader UK market, with the benchmark FTSE 100 index currently standing 0.38 percent lower at 6,702.75 points. The group’s shares have lost a little more than two percent of their value over the past year, as compared with about a 13-percent fall in the Footsie.

Group building electric aircraft

Rolls-Royce announced in a statement today that it is building an electric aircraft which is expected to make a run for the record books with a target speed of 300+ MPH (480+ KMH). The plane is scheduled to take to the skies next year and is part of the group’s “Accelerating the Electrification of Flight” (ACCEL) initiative which is partly funded by the UK government and involves a host of partners including electric motor and controller manufacturer YASA and the aviation start-up Electroflight.

“This plane will be powered by a state-of-the-art electrical system and the most powerful battery ever built for flight,” Matheu Parr, ACCEL Project Manager for Rolls-Royce, commented in the statement. “In the year ahead, we’re going to demonstrate its abilities in demanding test environments before going for gold in 2020 from a landing strip on the Welsh coastline.”

Analysts on Rolls-Royce

The 16 analysts offering 12-month price targets for Rolls-Royce for the Financial Times have a median target of 977.50p on the shares, with a high estimate of 1,250.00p and a low estimate of 675.00p. As of December 29, the consensus forecast amongst 19 polled investment analysts covering the blue-chip group advises investors to hold their position in the company.

As of 14:59 GMT, Wednesday, 02 January, Rolls-Royce Holding PLC share price is 813.80p.