Rapide E thread

[Wayne95]

Aston releases info on its next model- no comment on our forum!

Come on chaps, there must be some Rapide owners thinking of upgrading to 610hp and zero tartif London driving. And with an engine ( motor) designed by an F1 engineering team

Possibly a ridiculous price , but it would make a great guilt free daily driver, and possibly the best handling EV yet produced !

Lagonda marque- it started here

[divetheworld]

[Wayne95]

divetheworld said:

Well I tried Dr Palmer

[Jon39]

I had expected avinalarf to join in, and explain to us what services a tartif can provide.

[PantsFire]

Given the issues companies have with their first/early electric/hybrid vehicles I'd approach with caution. Also it sounded like the current Rapide was being retrofitted with hybrid rather than an all new car.

[Jon39]

Some internet photographs which might be of interest.

I also came across something which I have not heard about before. A 4 door Chinese electric car.
Do you think Chinese cars will eventually be sold in the UK?
Remember what happened when Japanese motor cycles first came to Great Britain?

[RL17]

Jon39 said:

I also came across something which I have not heard about before. A 4 door Chinese electric car.
Do you think Chinese cars will eventually be sold in the UK?
Remember what happened when Japanese motor cycles first came to Great Britain?

Apart from Lotus cars you mean

All but a few makes made there in 10-15 years - probably, just Dysons would be left (: and hopefully some others

[john ryan]

Chinese cars are sold in the UK - badged as Rovers.

[Jon39]

john ryan said:

Chinese cars are sold in the UK - badged as Rovers.

My thoughts John, were just to wonder whether the Chinese might ever become serious contenders in the UK market.

I know little about this, but instead of Rover, I think you might have meant MG. Think the Rover brand is now owned by Tata, although probably dormant.

MG seem to just 'dabble' in the UK market. They offer mass market type products, but have only sold about 5,000 vehicles this year to date. Most odd.

[Veg]

Might mention London Taxis and Volvo too.......

The Chinese are coming, i think they call it the "Road and Belt" or some such which means they are wanting to be global players by 2025. Many have talked to me about acquiring companies after March next year when they see the value of UK PLC (IP & companies) decreasing and becoming a bargain for them. This doesn't mean car makers more suppliers but with an important caveat ...EV and hydrogen vehicles

Oh an interesting point is who owns most of the worlds Lithium and Cobalt (the Cathode on an Li-Ion battery) - yes you've guessed China!! Might explain why Tesla are desperate to set up a battery plant in China

[john ryan]

Badged MG, of course - engineered at Longbridge, but we are teaching them well. Rover (including MG) went to SAIC and Roewe - both chinese, but now merged I think. Too much thread drift!

[Wayne95]

Jon39 said:

Some internet photographs which might be of interest.

I also came across something which I have not heard about before. A 4 door Chinese electric car.
Do you think Chinese cars will eventually be sold in the UK?
Remember what happened when Japanese motor cycles first came to Great Britain?

Engine bay interesting, hopefully they also put AM on it somewhere.

I think electric is perfect for large luxury cars, nothing is smoother, and the torque makes it effortless. A good fit then for Rapide and eventually Lagonda.

We can then keep the V12 for the GT's and (hopefully) sports cars.

Wonder if they have gone full "one foot driving" like the i3? Using the regen to capture energy for the next launch down the road .

The only thing we will miss is the sound, but I quite like the blade runner noise my i3 makes - though my V12V howling at the weekend is definately what I look forward to.

[JohnG1]

The engine bay photos do not have the strut brace between the tops of the suspension mountings.

Does this mean the Rapide E won't have the same torsional rigidity?

Anyone got any ideas on that?

[David W.]

Some interesting stuff here regarding the re-gen and acceleration phases of EV batteries vs the range element. EV car tech is developing very quickly. Lease over purchase will be the safest sensible “ownership” route for EVs I suspect.
Estonia an interesting place too.
https://youtu.be/KQ2Eo6wl5r0
DW

[Agent57]

The Rapide is an old car now and this is not coming out until late 2019.

I believe it is just a test bed for technology that will go into the new Lagondas.

[V8LM]

Agent57 said:

The Rapide is an old car now and this is not coming out until late 2019.

I believe it is just a test bed for technology that will go into the new Lagondas.

I suspect the Rapide E will bear little resemblance the Rapide E Concept.

[Ken Figenus]

I think the seeming lack of interest is because specs have been a bit limited - range/cost/weight etc Hopefully they will steal a march for the DBX via this R&D as some element of battery power will be crucial to that car's success I think. I tried to get on the bandwagon via a Volvo XC 90 hybrid - the idea of using the short range battery only mode in a stop start way in town was appealing - cleaner and cheaper than low mpg. I however sadly uttered a swear word when i took my first corner in the 3000kg thing! Hopefully the Rapide E will handle as well as the V12!

[Wayne95]

Ken Figenus said:

I think the seeming lack of interest is because specs have been a bit limited - range/cost/weight etc Hopefully they will steal a march for the DBX via this R&D as some element of battery power will be crucial to that car's success I think. I tried to get on the bandwagon via a Volvo XC 90 hybrid - the idea of using the short range battery only mode in a stop start way in town was appealing - cleaner and cheaper than low mpg. I however sadly uttered a swear word when i took my first corner in the 3000kg thing! Hopefully the Rapide E will handle as well as the V12!

That’s the problem with hybrid, the weight of a combustion engine PLUS the electric battery and motors.

Much better to dump the engine and go full electric, use some of the weight saving for a bigger battery.

The lower CoG can help when designed in from the start, but how well the Rapide will be packaged is unknown given it was designed for a V12 and fuel tank

[Ken Figenus]

"The company announced yesterday that the Rapide E will use a 65-kwh battery pack to deliver a range of about 200 miles.

The battery pack will use more than 5,600 cylindrical 18650 cells arranged in a proprietary pack sitting where the gas-powered Rapide's V-12 engine, transmission, and gas tank usually sit".

Short range town car then - a Rapide - not the most suitable city runabout - esp in a multi storey!

[oilit]

has anyone ordered one of these?

I am surprised how quiet the news has been on this - given i thought they were due to be delivered in 2019?