All Sections

Rolls Royce axes 102EX electric Phantom concept due to… Zzzzzz

Rolls-Royce will not be building an all-electric version of the Phantom. The company has pulled the plug on the ambitious 102EX project due to a lack of consumer interest.

The electric Rolls Royce Phantom was a good idea in theory. Sort of.
The electric Rolls Royce Phantom was a good idea in theory. Sort of.

Rolls-Royce unveiled the car at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show in order to gauge the level of interest from nature-loving rich folk. It turns out they either don’t exist — at least not in the numbers that would have made the 102EX worthy of a production run.

That’s a shame in many ways, as the 102EX electric Phantom had a lot going for it. The car had less power, but more torque than the standard V12 Phantom, and its electric motor was whisper quiet, smooth and very quick. In some ways, it out-Phantomed the standard Phantom, thanks to a more luxurious driving experience.

Unfortunately, there were also plenty of reasons the 102EX was always going to be a complete flop. Its 658Kg battery pack weighed as much as a small car and cost an absolute fortune, but only carried enough energy to provide a 120-mile range. That’s probably just enough to transport most execs from their stately homes to their city offices, but the eight hour charge time means they’d need a second 102EX just to get them home again.

Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Muller-Otvos said “The [102EX] always was a market research exercise. Over 500 people have been behind the wheel now, all over the world. The feedback is ambivalent so far, unfortunately. I wouldn’t have thought that. Because I’ve always loved the car from the very beginning.”

We can’t say we’re that surprised, but what do you reckon? Would you have bought a 102EX if you had a spare quarter of a million pounds gathering interest in your off-shore bank account, or was the project always doomed to fail? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook.

Source: Motor Trend

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *