Fans of luxury cars should all know well that even the most heritage-driven brands are making the shift to electric cars now. It won’t be long before any time you take a Rolls-Royce for rent, you’ll be driving an electric one!
In mid-2021, it was reported that Rolls-Royce had finally confirmed their first all-electric vehicle, the Silent Shadow, an adaptation of the name of an older Rolls-Royce model, the Silver Shadow which was built from 1965 to 1980.
Unlike fellow British luxury competitor, Bentley, the Rolls-Royce company is leap-frogging the hybrid stage and going straight for the launch of an all-electric vehicle. Bentley had a lot of success with their first Bentayga Hybrid cars, but it’s yet to be seen if Rolls-Royce will bother with that transition stage.
Rolls Royce Silent Shadow – What Do We Know?
Close to the 130EX?
There’s some speculation as to whether or not the Silent Shadow will bear a close resemblance to the radical designs of the 103EX EV Concept vehicle commissioned by parent company BMW to showcase the future direction of BMW brands in the coming years. The 103EX EV Concept was first shown back in 2016 — also known as the Vision Next 100 — and featured space-age design concepts that were a huge departure from what people traditionally expected from Rolls-Royce.
Others have said, however, that while the Silent Shadow will doubtless be inspired by the concept car, it is unlikely to be a direct replica of it. It seems much more likely that the Silent Shadow EV will share at least some of its architecture with BMW’s latest iX models. We’ll go more into that below.
BMW DNA and Powerful EV Tech
We do know that the EV technology is driven by BMW and that the Silent Shadow will likely house similar powertrains to the new BMW iX electric SUV models. It has been reported that the battery will offer at least 100 kWh of capacity and deliver a single-charge range of 300-400 miles. That’s a model that would compete with many Tesla cars in the current range in terms of range, but the actual range is yet to be confirmed.
As for the underlying platform, this is also expected to be shared with the new BMW cars. That means an aluminum platform that should be able to load in batteries of up to 120 kWh in capacity, suggesting that a long-range model is possible.
Rolls-Royce Has No Regrets About Going Electric
Some fans have pointed to the Silent Shadow in dismay as the V12 engines of yesteryear will be nowhere to be seen. Horsepower nostalgia is one thing, but Rolls-Royce do not feel this way about the transition. Their CEO Torsten Muller-Otvos has been quoted “The roar of an engine is not part of the Rolls-Royce experience, so electrification fits perfectly for the brand.”
He’s not wrong. Owners of Rolls-Royce cars would have been writing angry emails to the company if their sublime cabin experience was ruined with the cacophony of engine noise. Rollers have always been about the silent magic carpet ride, and electric cars from this iconic automotive luxury giant should take that concept to the next level.