While we imagine that the vast majority of you would be perfectly content with an
all-electric MINI Cooper (or a
Porsche, if nothing else), some debutantes and Chuck Bass wannabes just won't have anything but the best. For those out there who can actually consider putting a Rolls-Royce in the garage, you'll be thrilled to know that CEO Tom Purves is spending some serious time thinking about a battery-powered Phantom. Reportedly, the bigwig stated that "many of its customers do small mileages exclusively in the city," and for these customers, "an electric Rolls-Royce would be ideal." He wouldn't hand over any prospective time lines or anything, but we did get the impression that he reckoned the engineering wouldn't be too terribly taxing. And the best part? He suggested that most buyers would opt for an electric Rolls for "urban use" while sporting a gasoline-powered version for longer journeys. Yeah, that's something we can
totally relate to.
[Via
Autoblog]
posted Oct 24th 2008 1:24AM
Ah, excellent. I have been anticipating the day when I can have that old Rolls scrapped. I think I'll break open the oldest and most expensive bottle of rum in the world to celebrate. Then not drink it. Perhaps I shall pour it in the dish for our Komodo dragon, he does love his billion dollar ales! Ho, ho!
$(
You still have a Komodo dragon? How passe. I have a Norwegian Ridgeback. It eats gold and refuses to drink anything but Cristal. I tried to slip it some sparkling wine once, and it burned down my chateau in protest.
Their customers are oil based.. Don't think it'll ever happen.
As is everyone on the plannet.
This is a significant bit of news. There are still hundreds of millions of people out there who see Rolls Royce as the pinnacle of car technology but would not give electric car a second look. If RR comes out with electric car that would make a lot of people to stop and think a about it. Not to mention other car manufacturers who are also watching what few "leaders of the pack" are doing.
Well done RR! I will take electric WV Passat or Project Better Place compatible electric Ranault Laguna but I will give my respect to you.
This is great. They're answering customers needs to reduce fuel bills.
At least they're not holding with the pretence that this is environmentally friendly or any less polluting than any other cars on the road, just cheaper in the urban environment. Right guys?
It's a lame ass idea.
and they tell me this right after I bought a non-electric Phantom?
what a rip-off!
Chuck Bass!
I thought Rolls Royce don't make cars no more?
Well, perhaps with your double negative your comment is actually true.
The WHOLE POINT of a car like the Rolls is to be a ridiculous waste of resources.
You don't want to use less fuel, you want it to use MORE.
It's a heavy tank of a thing, with a huge engine. It says to everyone who sees it "Hey look at me! I'm stinkin rich and I can afford to eat up as much petrol as I want. You poor people can worry about Peak Oil and Pollution and the Ozone layer, but I'm Rich."
Eh, sure this'll probably be a bit more efficient than usual, but bet on the car itself being even more expensive than a petrol-driven one. So it definitely isn't going to lose the 'I'm stinking rich' display functionality...
Actually, the whole point of a Royles Royce is to say "I've suceeded and am now tastefull, refined, and none of the above".
Well, they DO have a point when they say many Rolls-Royce owners drive only short distances in their retardiculously large and inefficient cars which, though very solid, emit powerful emissions. I'm sure even rich people tire of breathing air tainted by the blood of slaves, the tears of Ethiopian children (that is if they weren't severely dehydrated 800% of the time), and the fumes of their big, stinky automobiles! It's a good thing though that they drive such short distances, because the heavy Rolls probably gets about 20 miles on a full charge.
I can see an electric Rolls Royce making sense, but PLEASE do your best to NOT pretend there is a real engine in your car by playing vroom-vroom through the 40-speaker sound system. A Rolls is tacky enough as it is.
BIOSHOCK (see the picture).
With the average electric car have a 4 to 1 ratio to a regular car, an electric phantom would cost:
$340,000 x 4 = $1,360,000 + I'm rich value = $2 million dollars :)
Hit me back when I win the lottery.