For the foreseeable future, we can safely say that Rolls Royce’s high end sedans will run only on gasoline. CEO Torsten Muller-Otvos has told Car and Driver that the fully electric Phantom-based 102EX concept car will not be making it to the production line.
The 102EX was launched at last years’ Geneva Motor Show, but Muller-Otvos claims the response to it was ‘ambivalent’. Potential buyers apparently found the acceleration and quiet engine attractive, but the minimum eight hour charge time and the 120 mile range of the car was ‘not acceptable’.
Rolls Royce developed the 102EX as an electric alternative to the massively thirsty Phantom which averages around 14 miles to the gallon. The car received good reviews for its performance. Although, it weighed several hundred pounds more than the already massive Phantom and would’ve cost almost twice over as the $450,000 gas powered version. Muller-Otvos, however, insists that Rolls Royce hasn’t given up on electric power just yet. A plug in hybrid, he says, could combine ‘the advantages of both worlds’. But in the past few month, the success of hybrids are also being questioned. This would make the chances of a successful electric Rolls Royce in any form very slim indeed.
