We’ve seen a diesel powered Bentley before, and now here’s a Bentley that runs on pure electricity. The Bentley EXP 12 Speed 6e is the first electric car to come out of Crewe, but you can’t buy one just yet because it’s still a concept car.
Although not much has been revealed about the electric powertrain, Bentley only said that the EXP 12 Speed 6e will be able to travel “between London and Paris (456km) or Milan and Monaco on a single charge”. Quite a bold claim if you ask us, but the crew at Crewe seems confident about it. The car is also said to support rapid inductive charging if the owner doesn’t feel like getting his hands dirty by plugging the charger into a dedicated slot behind the rear number plate.
Some of you might recognise the car, because the design is actually two years old. It was previously revealed as the EXP 10 Speed 6 at the Geneva Motor Show back in 2015. However, that car was a coupe and it was powered by a petrol hybrid powertrain. This year Bentley has repainted it in white, replaced the side mirrors with a couple of rear-facing cameras, and chopped the roof off.
The interior too has been given a slight makeover. Like the roof, the top part of the steering wheel has been sawn off, and there’s a new gear selector finished in copper. The rest of the cabin is still a blend of old-school craftsmanship and new-school tech featuring a fancy “intelligent infotainment system” enclosed inside solid piece of curved glass in the middle of the dashboard.
The EXP 12 Speed 6e (and the EXP 10 Speed 6) previews at an upcoming “small” two-seater Bentley to slot below the Continental range, and it could get into production as soon as next year. Meanwhile, Bentley mentioned that they will be introducing a range of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) in 2018 starting with the Bentayga.
IMAGE GALLERY
