Bentley commits to EV, just not yet

Bentley is waiting for a step-change in battery technology before producing to its first electric car in 2025, but will produce a hybrid version of every model by 2023.

The British company is planning for the change and will roll out its first plug-in model next year, in the form of the Bentley Bentayga Hybrid, but predicts it will be at least five years before battery power will meet the demands for an all-electric Bentley including a range of 400km.

Despite banking on electrification with the Bentley EXP 100 GT concept car it revealed earlier this year to celebrate the centenary of the brand, Bentley needs a big electric kick for its fast and heavy cars.

For the record, the four-motor EV powertrain in the fanciful 100 GT concept is claimed to push the 1900kg Bentley to a top speed of 300km/h and its solid-state batteries are said to offer 700km of range and take an 80 per cent charge in 15 minutes via a 500kW fast-charger.

“Our ambition is to launch a battery electric car in 2025. We cannot give Bentley customers what they need in an electric car with the technology available today,” Bentley spokesman, Wayne Bruce, told carsales at the preview drive of the new Bentley Flying Spur sedan in Monaco.

“We know from our research that nearly 50 per cent of luxury car buyers, and by luxury we mean seven brands -- Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, McLaren and Bugatti -- are waiting for an electrified car. But up to now haven’t been able to buy one.”

His admission comes despite the imminent arrival, in the first half of next year, of Bentley’s first hybrid. The plug-in version of the Bentayga is part of a major mechanical and visual update to the company’s flagship SUV and is expected to preview similar technology for the Continental GT and Flying Spur.

Bentley is part of the giant Volkswagen Group but even the power pack for the Porsche Taycan, which is setting new standards for electrification, is not considered punchy enough for something like the all-new Flying Spur or the Bentayga.

Instead, the first charge into the future comes with the plug-in Bentayga hybrid and prototypes of the Continental and Flying Spur have also been spotted during testing in Britain.

“By 2023 you will be able to buy an electrified version of every Bentley nameplate,” says Bruce.

“It begins now with the Bentayga PHEV. At the moment we see the greatest demand for a hybrid SUV, although it’s very geographical, in countries like the USA and east and Western Europe. There are other regions and areas where there is a fiscal advantage to driving a PHEV.

“Hybrid is not a compromise to keep us going for now -- for many people this is the ideal solution.”

Bentley is yet to reveal consumption or range figures for the Bentayga PHEV, but it is expected to run for around 40km on battery power alone.

Meantime, company chief Adrian Hallmark says neither he nor Bentley buyers need to be concerned about hybrids or plug-in battery cars.

“I’m not worried about electrification -- I’m excited,” says Hallmark.

“From my point of view, in terms of the future of electric cars, they don’t have to be dull, boring, lifeless and grey.

“Whether you want performance or range or refinement or faster charging, you’ll be able to tailor the drive experience and make it switchable and even change it for different journeys. Potentially, you get several cars in one.”