First ever Bentley EV will be twice as powerful as the W12

We all shed tears when Bentley announced the demise of its W12 in February 2023. Yes, this legendary powertrain has been powering Bentleys since 2003 and will cease to exist after April 2024. While the W12 has always been the ultimate powerhouse for the Crewe-based carmaker, a recent report in the British media gives light to ultra high-performance electric Bentleys that are slated to arrive after 2030. Still not convinced? According to the report, the CEO, Adrian Hallmark, has confirmed that the forthcoming EVs from Bentley would push out twice the power produced by the existing W12 models and will offer more driving range than most EVs in the market. 

It is no secret that Bentley is going carbon-neutral by 2030, and like most European carmakers, it has already shifted to hybridisation with the Bentayga and Flying Spur. However, Bentley will develop EVs the right way and make them even more engaging than the existing W12 models.  

The report further states that Bentley will offer two battery configurations, and among them will be a high-performance battery pack, which Hallmark mentioned as 'the W12 of batteries.' As for the powertrain, the electric motors combined with the high-voltage battery pack will offer between 50% to 100% more oomph than the current W12-powered models. So, if the W12 under the hood of the Batur churns out 740bhp, we can expect the future EVs to crank as much as 1000+kW or close to 1,500 ponies. So electrification will pave the way for Bentley to compete with Tesla Plaid models and Lucid’s upcoming Air Sapphire. 

The Bentley boss hinted on the range of their new powertrain: “I can’t name our partner manufacturer or the type but our cars will have a 350 (563 km) to 450-mile (724 km) range, together with a rapid-charging time from 10% to 80% in less than 20 minutes.” This is in line with other EV luxury car range offerings. The head honcho of Bentley also confirmed that an EV is scheduled to debut in 2026.

He also added, “our surveys tell us that around 70% of customers expect us to build them an all-electric Bentley within five years.” This indicates that we could get a taste of the mad performance Hallmark is hinting about very soon. In addition to the technical specifications, the forthcoming greener Bentleys will be “easily recognisable.” With the Batur and Bacalar, Bentley portrayed how its future models will be, from an aesthetic point of view. We still don’t know whether the EV scheduled for 2026 would be an SUV, a grand tourer or a sedan, but the above information sounds interesting, even for EV sceptics (like myself).