Lunaz completes world's first electric Bentley
Thought the Rolls Royce EV was audacious? You ain't seen nothing yet
There will be a lot more news like this from Lunaz over the coming months and years. Not only has its first electric Bentley just been completed - more on that in a sec - it's Silverstone manufacturing base is to grow by 500 per cent in size and its number of jobs is to double this year. The appetite for electrified classics, it would seem, is not letting up one bit - even when they cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Lunaz's latest is a 1961 Bentley S2 Continental Flying Spur by H.J Mulliner, which will kick off its electric Bentley range after "overwhelming customer demand". It will use the Lunaz proprietary electric powertrain which, in the Rolls-Royce conversions, was offered with either 80kWh or 120kWh batteries. As with other Lunaz commissions, the Bentley has received a bare metal restoration and "full modernisation" - including better brakes, steering and suspension - as part of the project; the green car seen here will be used daily and thus has child seats integrated in the back as well as Apple CarPlay functionality.
This is just the start for Lunaz Bentleys, too. It has production allocation for two- and four-door S1, S2 and S3 Continentals, and will convert the Continental Drophead Coupe as well. Customers have even been in touch to have James Young cars reengineered.
Like the Rolls-Royce, however, a fully restored electric Bentley from Lunaz doesn't come cheap: prices start at £350,000 before tax, depending on the car being restored. That said, demand clearly exists: the proprietary powertrain is being lined up for additional installations (including up-cycling ICE fleets), the company's 8,000 square foot headquarters is growing to 40,000 square feet and recent recruits have come in from names like McLaren and Prodrive. The market for, as Lunaz puts it, "furthering the legacies" of classic cars, is growing, and growing fast - expect many more conversions to be unveiled as 2021 unfolds.
Stuff Theta Gruntburger, I’d rather have this at less than half the price:
https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1310911
It was a bit unreliable though and I think electric would have suited it very well - better than the original drivetrain.
Of course if the current engine is working this is likely much less environmentally friendly on certain parameters than leaving the original engine in place for the very few miles these things likely do, so I don't in any way look at this through that lens, just ponder if it makes the car better.
It was a bit unreliable though and I think electric would have suited it very well - better than the original drivetrain.
Of course if the current engine is working this is likely much less environmentally friendly on certain parameters than leaving the original engine in place for the very few miles these things likely do, so I don't in any way look at this through that lens, just ponder if it makes the car better.
How many old manor houses have no electricity, plumbing or heating because they weren't built like that originally? The car is not ruined, it has been adapted but as Numeric asks is it worth it? The car will do so few miles its emissions will be negligible.
The one purpose I can see where this is truly useful if where the car shall be used in a heavily regulated area like a city centre. Probably with a uniformed chauffer.
Some of the more exclusive hotels and private hire firms might be a good market too. Imagine being picked up from the airport in this?
Most are body on frame, have a throttle cable and about 3 wires throughout the car. This ensures that all existing car functions will work and it's easy to throw something modern in like a double din apple carplay system.
Try do it to a modern car, to get all the ADAS, heated/24 way seats, pop up shifters, ABS/TCS etc to work would be nigh on impossible for most these pop up conversion companies
The go-kart nature of modern EV platforms essentially give designers a blank canvas - so come on car designers, why cant you produce something as beautiful as an old shaped Bentley from scratch? This would be much more interesting to me.
On one hand, it is fantastic, being able to seamlessly waft around a city in a beautiful classic is a good idea and electrification will suit the sedate nature of a old Bentley.
Not every classic is going to be converted so I don’t buy the argument of erasing history. If this means the car is used more and subsequently more people see the classic design rather than it being squirrelled away in a wealthy collectors garage never to see the light of day, that is only a good thing IMO. You never know the sight of one might inspire a next generation car designer to design a electric car that doesn’t look like a bar of soap.
On the other hand any petrolhead who has been to Havana will attest to the disappointment of seeing all the 1950s cars rumbling about with retro fitted Lada engines (obviously for different reasons), so hopefully historical classic car exemptions to low emissions zones will be continued / applied.
And that my comment has elicited nearly as many comments as those about the car itself.
Personally I couldn’t care less about Thunberg one way or another, we are being corralled down the route of Eva
Even Herr Jung from BMW suggested that ev cars aren’t the future:
“ The basic idea is that you take an EV with a large battery pack, and you replace the pack with a fuel cell, a hydrogen tank, and a smaller battery.”
Quicker to refuel, more sustainable and easier/cheaper to produce the raw materials.
For a car that won’t be driven 12k a year, it just doesn’t make sense to convert something like this, the vast majority will be used just a few times a year with very limited mileage.
Oh well, I’d better get back to impersonating Clarkson I guess....
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