Bentley promises 'effortless overtaking' with first EV

LONDON -- Bentley's first full-electric vehicle will offer up to 1400 hp and will be capable of accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in about 1.5 seconds, CEO Adrian Hallmark has said.

But acceleration will not be the main selling point of the model, Hallmark said.

"For us it would not be the brutality of acceleration that can define us," he said in an interview with Automotive News Europe.

The main attribute of the new EV will rather be the car's "effortless overtaking performance from a huge amount of torque on demand," Hallmark said. "Most people enjoy the 30-70 mph acceleration, or in Germany, 30-150 mph," he said.

Electric drivetrains have allowed automakers to exponentially boost acceleration compared to combustion engine alternatives. The problem now is, the rate of acceleration is outpacing the limits of human endurance.

“If we're 650 hp now with GT Speed, we will be double that with the BEV,” Hallmark said “But from a 0 to 60 mph point of view there are diminishing returns. The problem is, it's uncomfortable. And then it just becomes nauseous.”

Bentley, however, will leave the choice with the customer. “You can have 0-60mph in 2.7 seconds. Or it can be switched to 1.5 seconds,” Hallmark said.

The electric Bentley goes into production at the automaker's factory in Crewe, England, in 2025.

Hallmark did not reveal what body style the new EV would be, saying only that it would be incremental to the current Bentley lineup of Continental GT coupe and convertible, Flying Spur sedan and Bentayga SUV.

When those are replaced, they will switch to full-electric power as well, Bentley has said

One variant of the new EV will cost more than 250,000 euros, a price point that Bentley exited when it stopped selling the Mulsanne limousine in 2020.

"In terms of price point, one of the EVs will be more in that Mulsanne price range than anything that we have today. It has to be," Hallmark said. He stressed it was not a limousine.

The EV's higher price point compared to Bentley’s combustion engine range is not due to the cost of batteries.

“The 12-cylinder engine is about 10 times the price of the average premium car engine, and the average battery is less than our 12-cylinder engine,” Hallmark said. “I cannot wait for batteries, they are cheap in relative terms.”

The new EV will be built on the PPE (premium performance electric) platform developed by Audi, Bentley’s controlling division within the VW Group.

The platform "gives us the battery technology itself, the drive units, the autonomous capability, the connected car capability, the body systems and some innovations in those," Hallmark said.

He said Bentley attributes were "baked in at the beginning," rather than the brand having to adapt a VW Group platform as it did with the Porsche Panamera platform for the Continental GT and Flying Spur.

The design will be updated from Bentley’s current look but will not follow an EV trend.

"What we will not do is try and make them look like electric cars," Hallmark said.