Last year Bentley teased a future electric car with the debut of the EXP 12 Speed 6e concept at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show, but if you’re waiting for a Bentley EV, you’ll have to wait until at least 2023.
Bentley says that the battery technology for electric cars isn’t quite where it needs to be to be able to power a range of Bentley electric cars. “The problem is when you get to our segment with the size of our vehicles and the frontal area we push through, current battery power density limits the size of the car you can offer with credible driving range,” Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark recently told Automotive News Europe.
Bentley doesn’t think that the battery technology will get to the level that it needs to power an electric Bentley until 2023 to 2025. “There is nothing industrialized in the supply chain before then.”
While Bentley did tease the possibility of an electric sports car with the EXP 12 Speed 6e concept, Bentley has also revealed that its first electric car will not be a sports car. “We have talked about sports cars in the past, but I don’t believe we need sports cars,” he said. “Within the Volkswagen Group [Bentley’s owner], there are enough sports cars,” Hallmark stated.
It’s not for certain yet, but Bentley’s electric car may use the same Premium Platform Electric platform that Audi and Porsche are currently developing.
Source: Automotive News Europe
