Electric Rolls Royce - Electric cars

The plug-in Rolls-Royce

Luxury car maker Rolls Royce have dipped a tentative toe into the Electric Vehicle sector. Unlikely as it may seem, this behemoth has had it's 6.75-liter V-12 surplanted by a massive 71-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery housed within the aluminum spaceframe. Rolls-Royce is using large-form NCM pouch cells, or lithium-nickel-cobalt-manganese-oxide to be exact. Due to its experimental nature, the 96 cells are separated into 5 modules (38-, 36-, 10-, 8-, and 4-cell units) and arranged in such a way that the overall battery takes on the shape of an engine and transmission.

The battery weighs a massive 1,411 pounds and outputs 850 amperes at 338 volts to two electric motors linked to a rear transaxle. The single-speed gearbox takes each motor’s 145 kilowatts (194 horsepower) and sends up to 388 horsepower to the rear wheels. Given its electric nature, the two motors will have up 590 combined pound-feet of torque on demand. The 0-60 mph time is quoted as being under 8 seconds, and there’s a governed top speed of just under 100 mph. A quite impressive performance for such a massive vehicle, around 3,000 kilograms.

The driving range is said to be up to 124 miles. In order to charge the battery, a three-phase charger would need 8 hours, while a single-phase (presumably 220/240V) would take 20 hours. Wireless charging is being trialed as well.

Inside, the company uses an experimental Corinova leather tanned with all-natural vegetable oil.

Whether this car will ever emerge as a production version remains to be seen!