Some mainstream car buyers may be ready to accept the limitations of electric vehicles, but Rolls-Royce says the super wealthy aren’t yet willing to give up the extended range of their twelve-cylinder engines.
In order to gauge customer interest in electric technology, Rolls-Royce debuted an all-electric version of its Phantom, dubbed the 102EX, at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show. The car was then put on a worldwide customer tour, giving Rolls-Royce owners a chance to closer evaluate the technology.
However, the tour hasn’t gone exactly to plan, with customers rejecting the notion of a 100-mile range. In fact, Rolls-Royce has yet to see one hand raiser for the zero emissions technology.
While it doesn’t appear as though EVs will be an immediate part of Rolls-Royce’s future, the British automaker could adopt hybrid technology to improve its overall fleet fuel economy.
“Let’s wait and see what our customers are telling us, but hybrids have a certain capability to deliver both electric driving combined with a normal combustion engine, and that might be a solution,” Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes said.
Rolls-Royce is reportedly working on a hybrid version of its smaller Ghost model, but it remains to be seen when such a model might launch.
References
1.’Rolls-ROyce Drivers…’ view
