While an engineer at rival Bentley scoffed and
called it "window dressing", Rolls-Royce insiders insist the 102EX
concept unveiled at the Geneva Show is the real deal -- a genuine
prototype designed to test customer reaction to the idea of an
electric-powered Phantom.The EX moniker - and the red RR badging - has
been used by Rolls-Royce to distinguish what the company calls
"experimental" models since 1919.
And while Henry Royce started his
career as an electrical engineer and Charles Rolls spoke favorably of
electric vehicles before his death in1910, there's never been a
Rolls-Royce as experimental as this Phantom electric vehicle.
Carter says Rolls-Royce owners around the world
will be given the opportunity to drive the 102EX -- also called the
Phantom EE -- and tell the company what they think. "We want to hear
what they like, and more importantly what they don't like, about the
car," he says. "We want honest feedback." Among the key issues
Rolls-Royce wants to hear from its customers about are the usual
electric vehicle bugbears -- range, charging time, and performance.
Rolls Royce 102EX Front View
The Phantom EE's powertrain consists of two
electric motors mounted on the rear sub-frame driving the rear wheels
through a single speed transmission with integrated differential. Each
motor is rated at 194hp, giving the Phantom EE a maximum power output of
388hp and 590lb-ft of torque available the moment you squeeze the
accelerator pedal. This compares with the regular Phantom's 453hp and
531lb-ft at 3500rpm.
Rolls Royce 102EX Back View
The motors are fed by a 71kW/hr lithium ion
battery pack that is believed to be the largest passenger car battery in
the world. The pack is comprised of NCM
(Lithium-Nickel-Cobalt-Manganese-Oxide) pouch cells, a variant of
lithium-ion chemistry that Rolls-Royce says has particularly high energy
and power densities. The Phantom EE battery pack houses five modules
of cells, a 38-cell module, a 36-cell module, and three smaller ones of
ten, eight and four arranged in various orientations within an irregular
shaped area that resembles the overall shape of the original 6.75-liter
V12 engine and six-speed automatic transmission. Rolls-Royce says the
Phantom EE should have a range of about 120 miles.
Rolls Royce 102EX Interior
Recharging will take a lengthy 20 hours, though
using three-phase power cuts it to eight hours. An induction charger is
also fitted to enable wireless charging, a new technology designed to
allow electric vehicles to be recharged without a physical connection to
a power source. Under this system a transfer pad on the ground delivers
power from a mains source through an induction pad mounted beneath the
battery pack. Power frequencies are magnetically coupled across these
power transfer pads.
Rolls Royce 102EX Interior
Though no time is given for a wireless recharge,
Rolls-Royce claims the process is about 90 percent efficient compared
with a regular plug-in charge, and that it is not essential to align the
transmitter and receiver pads exactly for charging to take place. The
battery pack would be expected to last over three years were it to be
used every day, says the company, and part of the Phantom EE evaluation
program will be to test this assumption in a real world environment.All the electric powertrain hardware adds just
over 200lb compared with the regular Phantom, bringing the overall mass
to 5996lbs. Rolls-Royce claims the Phantom EE will accelerate to 60mph
in under 8.0sec, which is about 2.3sec slower than the gas-engined car.
Top speed will be limited to 100mph.
