Rolls-Royce Developing Electric Vehicle

Electric vehicles are poised to go mainstream, with over 20 new models slated to hit the market in 2012. All the major car manufacturers are getting into the game, including Toyota, Honda, Ford, GM, Nissan, Mitsubishi, BMW, AG and Tesla and others. Now famed car-maker, Rolls-Royce, has announced it is developing the first luxury electric vehicle (EV).

Rolls-Royce is giving its lavish Phantom model, which sells for a whopping $530,000, an electric makeover. The company has spent more than a million dollars making a working prototype. The result, a luxury car called the 102EX, that has largest battery pack of any existing EV.

Since Rolls-Royce must do everything better than the competition, the 102EX will be charged in a different manner than existing models. Whereas current EVs must be plugged into a special charging station to recharge their batteries, the 102EX will charge wirelessly.

A series of coils has been attached underneath the cars chassis. This system is lined up with a matching plate fitted to the ground. The vehicle is then recharged wirelessly via an inductive charge which generates electricity straight into the battery.

Rolls-Royce chief engineer, Andrew Martin says that the intention is to put the charging pad directly into the floor of someone's garage or parking space. “You would drive the car in, park it, thereby allowing the two systems to 'handshake', and then the car would begin charging," he said.

The company that manufactures the charging pads, Halo IPT, hopes to one day install them directly into roads thereby enabling drivers to recharge their batteries while driving.