The limits of performance, when it comes to electric vehicles, seem to be... limitless. Further proof came recently when Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark indicated that the brand's first electric car, due in 2025, could offer up to 1,400 hp.
That could translate into a 0-97 mph time of 1.5 seconds. That's starting to sound pretty fast. In fact, we're talking about acceleration that's effortless. Maybe not so much for occupants, however.
“If we're 650 hp now with GT Speed, we will be double that with the BEV,” Hallmark told Automotive News Europe. “But from a 0 to 60 mph point of view, there are diminishing returns. The problem is, it's uncomfortable. And then it just becomes nauseous.”
Bentley's top boss has a solution to that problem, however. Driverds will be able to change the level of acceleration, in order to push the time to “only” 2.7 seconds.
The Bentley EV will be based on the PPE platform also set to serve as the basis for the Audi Q6 e-tron and the Porsche Macan EV. In terms of styling, Adrian Hallmark remains vague, except to say that “what we will not do is try and make them look like electric cars.”
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The executive had this to say last year: “If you’re not in SUVs, you're nowhere”, which of course fed speculation that the first all-electric Bentley might be one.
By 2030, Bentley intends to make only electric vehicles, which means several models are in the works. Hallmark explained, further, that “In terms of price point, one of the EVs will be more in that Mulsanne price range than anything that we have today. It has to be.”
In 2020, Bentley introduced the EXP 100GT concept (pictured), which foreshadows the brand's electric future. The shape of the model, with its scissor doors, is likely not going to transfer in whole in even in large part to the final production model, though may retain some elements, however.
Bentley plans to invest £2.5 billion (just over $4 million CAD) over the next 10 years to assemble electric vehicles at its Crewe plant in the U.K. The automaker also wants to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, including vehicle development and production.
