This ‘brutal’ electric vehicle will outrun a Bugatti Chiron.
Bentley has unveiled fresh information on its first all-electric vehicle, and it sounds alarming to say the least.
According to business CEO Adrian Hallmark in a recent interview with Automotive News Europe, the unannounced Bentley EV will have 1,400 horsepower (1,044 kilowatts) and will be capable of sprinting from 0 to 60 mph in as little as 1.5 seconds.
Although the vehicle isn’t expected until 2025, those statistics would place Bentley’s all-electric debut at the top of our list of the world’s fastest accelerating electric cars, which is presently held by the Rimac Nevera, which can sprint from 0-60mph in 1.85 seconds.
Despite the Bentley EV’s “brutal” speed, Hallmark feels the car’s most compelling feature will be its “effortless overtaking capability from a massive amount of torque on demand.”
“Most people prefer 30-70 mph acceleration, or 30-150 mph acceleration in Germany,” the CEO remarked, adding that the “issue” with high 0-60 speeds is that the driver gets “uncomfortable” and “nauseous” as a result.
If customers find the car’s usual speeds too much to bear, Bentley will provide a’slower’ acceleration option — one that propels them from 0-60mph in only 2.7 seconds.
When it comes to the appearance of the monstrous Bentley, the typically refined carmaker is determined to avoid the same aesthetic errors as other EV makers (the less said about the BMW XM, the better).
“What we will not do is attempt to make [our vehicles] appear like electric cars,” Hallmark stated, adding that Bentley’s future saloon/supercar design would be an updated version of the brand’s current aesthetic.
Bentley’s EXP 100 GT concept was presented in 2019 as a way of investigating “how grand touring may appear in 2035,” so there’s a good possibility that the brand’s first electric vehicle could look a lot like this spaceship-like model.
That interplanetary elegance, though, will come at a cost. According to CEO Hallmark, at least one electric vehicle model will cost more than €250,000 (about $260,000 / £210,000 / AU$375,000).
To be honest, electric cars of this sort are very expensive to make – the sheer size of the ion-lithium batteries necessary is the major problem – and the Rimac Nevera’s price tag is a whopping $2.4 million, but we’d still advise you to start saving those pennies as soon as possible.
