Visit to Electro Flight

A group from the HCG visited Electro Flight to hear and see how this small Gloucestershire company had obtained the world speed record for electric aircraft. Roger Targett founding Director of Electro Flight (2011) explained his story. He was born in Zimbabwe, he started Targett Aviation in 1987 repairing gliders, the business developed into making improvements for the Red Bull Air Race competitors. Roger recognised advantages of electric power for air racing and was determined to build an airplane. The road to success was not straight forward, funding was continually an issue, offers of help from Airbus did not come to fruition, eventually Roger met with Rolls Royce who funded the project. Electric power expertise and engineers were acquired from F1. The airframe was a tried and tested Race-plane, but modified to accept the electrical power unit. The key issue was not the electric motor but the battery pack. The battery pack as in many electric cars is made from hundreds/thousands of batteries a little larger than an AA battery. In order to keep the batteries, cool yet develop the power required for the necessary speed, each battery was tested for its characteristics and a complex control system was developed to monitor and remove heat from the pack. On the 16th November 2021 the aircraft reached a top speed of 555.9km/hr 345.4mph over a three-kilometre distance. “The project was a success.”
However, this is not the end of the story, Roger’s Company is developing into a business which supplies battery pack power to a number of industry sectors.