Rolls-Royce is developing a new range of electric cars and is using the electrified Phantom as a testing base for its future cars.
In an article published earlier today, Autocar revealed that Rolls-Royce's parent company, BMW, is using a fully electric version of its luxury Phantom as part of its development of new electric vehicles.
A prototype of a battery-powered Phantom is at BMW's Munich Research and Development Centre.
The British brand has thought of developing the electric version of its current model as its first electric car, but now it seems to prefer an entirely new car, with the prototype being used as a testing platform for the transmission range.
Rumors of Rolls-Royce's move to electric propulsion engines have been mounting for some time, and the discovery that the company has a testing platform for electric cars shows that its plans are now emerging.
Late last year, BMW introduced a trademark to the German Patent Office named Silent Shadow, a silver shadow that was used from 1965 to 1980 in the best-selling Rolls-Royce to date.
Given that electric cars are almost silent in operation, many thought that this patent was the first real gesture that Rolls-Royce is beginning to shape its electric future.
Moreover, unlike brands such as Maserati, Rolls-Royce completely skips hybrid propulsion engines and goes straight to fully electric motors.
Torsten Müller-Ötvös, CEO of Rolls-Royce, confirmed in an interview that the company goes beyond hybrid gasoline and electric engines and focuses its development budget on fully electric models.
But what's more obvious is that the new Rolls-Royce electric car lineup borrows heavily from upcoming advanced BMW electric cars, such as the BMW iX.
The current luxury Phantom borrows many components of the BMW 7 Series propulsion system, and this is supposed to continue when both brands become electric and BMW launches its luxury saloon BMW i7.
The company is expected to release official details about the Silent Shadow before the end of this year, although it is not expected to be fully disclosed at that stage, and it seems we will have to wait until the launch of the BMW i7, which will not happen for at least another year.
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