First Bentley EV will be state-of-the-art jacked-up limo

Bentley's first-ever pure-electric vehicle will be a technological tour-de-force when it arrives in 2025 as the luxury brand is all set to use Audi's next-gen EV architecture.

According to Autocar, Bentley has no intention of playing it safe with its first battery-powered model, with the Bentley EV set to take the shape of a radical jacked-up limo with looks borrowed directly from the stunning EXP 100 GT concept.

Better still, its beauty will be more than skin deep as the unnamed Bentley EV will be based on an all-new bespoke EV architecture that is being developed by Project Artemis – Audi's black-ops engineering division.

The completely new architecture that's being created chiefly for the flagship Audi A9 e-tron is set to be cutting-edge and offer autonomous driving aids and connectivity well beyond any current Volkswagen Group product.

A high-riding sedan or crossover body style was deemed more appropriate than a traditional limo or larger SUV for a couple of reasons.

On the one hand, Bentley engineers need a body that is big enough to package battery cells under the floor, but anything bigger would be too heavy and have compromised aerodynamics that would ruin its range between recharges.

Commenting on the decision to do something different for its first EV, Bentley boss Adrian Hallmark said: "Aerodynamics, weight and rolling resistance are far more critical on battery-electric vehicles than combustion-engined ones on the range.

"So we’ve got to make the car lighter net of the battery, and we’ve got to make it more slippery, so it will be a very, very different proposition."

According to Hallmark, the switch to zero-emissions powertrains will "unlock" the design team and help Bentley appeal to new customers.

"We want to appeal to more women and be more relevant in future urban environments which are very much different to today, and we want to appeal to modern luxury values which are different to ones from 20 years ago. We’ve already moved with the times but the times will change again in the next 10 to 15 years," Hallmark told Autocar. 

Bentley has already declared that by 2025 its entire line-up will offer some level of electrification and that, just five years later, it will only sell pure-electric vehicles.