Bentley believes it could have an all-electric vehicle on the road by the year 2025.
While recently speaking with Auto News, Bentley chairman and chief executive Adrian Hallmark said electrification will play a key role in the future of the British car manufacturer.
“We have said 2025 is the earliest we can get a credible battery-electric Bentley [on the road],” Hallmark revealed. “Therefore, the next phase of our investment would be linked to that electrification. We are still working on whether we produce the cars on the same line or have supplementary build areas that bring in subcomponents in a different way.”
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As for what will be Bentley’s first electric vehicle, Hallmark said that the company “could take one of [its] existing nameplates” and then build an EV. However, he was keen to point out that the firm wouldn’t simply take an existing product and try to fit a battery pack and electric motors.
Hallmark added that Bentley’s ambition is to use a bespoke version of the PPE architecture being co-developed by Porsche and Audi. He also said that solid-state batteries could be used by the brand.
“I’m not saying that we are guaranteed to go solid state, but that is already on the radar within that mid-2020s period. They are about 30 percent lighter for the same power as lithium-ion. An I-pace has 720kg of batteries so going to 500kg instead of 720kg makes a difference. Also, think about how that changes the packaging.”
