Bentley to launch its first EV – a sleek urban SUV – in 2026
Finally, Bentley says it has found the winning formula to giving an all-electric vehicle the Bentley stamp of approval. It’ll scream luxury and likely cost a bloody fortune.
The British ultra-luxury brand, owned by Volkswagen AG, is once again pushing back its target to exclusively offer BEVs by five years to 2035, but says it is launching a “luxury urban SUV” – its first all-electric vehicle – in 2026.
Back in 2018, Bentley started making the transition with its Bentayga Hybrid, and now the brand offers plug-in hybrid versions of the Continental GT and Flying spur.
Bentley, a brand synonymous with lavish and powerful cars with 12- and 8-cylinder engines that can cost in the millions for special editions, also said it plans to offer a new EV or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle each year until 2035 – the company had originally targeted the end of this decade for going all electric, but it has pushed that back by five years.
“To be honest, there is not a lot of demand [for BEVs] from today’s Bentley customers,” CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser said during a press conference yesterday, as reported by Reuters.
But he is not ruling out legislative changes and a new generation of consumers who want a sleek, expensive EV.
“But we see there are new customers out that definitely want to have a very modern car.”
“Legislation, for sure, is driving electrification … but also competition,” Walliser said.
He did add the caveat that the 2035 target could shift even more, as some global regions are electrifying more slowly. “Some parts of the world may be even slower than 2035,” he said. “We listen carefully to our customers… and what they want to buy.”
The company ended production of its famed W12 engine this year, and now it focuses on PHEVs with 8- or 6-cylinder engines. And it says it’ll keep making PHEVs “as long as markets and customers demand it,” said Matthias Rabe, head of Bentley’s research and development. He also noted that Bentley may continue to release new ICE vehicles in the years to come as well.
Bentley to launch its first all-electric vehicle in 2026
Bentley’s first BEV was initially expected to be produced starting next year. Former CEO Adrian Hallmark had said prior that the plans to launch a new EV had been delayed due to software issues as well as designing a vehicle to Bentley’s exacting standards, rather than market conditions.
The company only hinted at the shape of the new EV with a sketch, which shows a similar profile to the Bentayga SUV – for reference, the 2025 model of the Bentayga starts at around $208,000. But it’ll be more compact, Walliser noted, at under 5,000 mm (16.4 feet) in length, so similar in size to the Porsche Cayenne or Audi Q7, and it’ll be built on the same platform as the upcoming Porsche Cayenne EV.
While Bentley didn’t share any statistics about the new model, it did note that range and charging speed will be top priorities. And of course, customers can expect the Bentley signature craftsmanship that are essential to the brand: “We don’t want to make just any electric car; we want to make a Bentley,” said Walliser.
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Swedish multinational Sandvik says it’s successfully deployed a pair of fully autonomous Toro LH518iB battery-electric underground loaders at the New Gold Inc. ($NGD) New Afton mine in British Columbia, Canada.
The heavy mining equipment experts at Sandvik say that the revolutionary new 18 ton loaders have been in service since mid-November, working in a designated test area of the mine’s “Lift 1” footwall. The mine’s operators are preparing to move the automated machines to the mine’s “C-Zone” any time now, putting them into regular service by the first of the new year.
“This is a significant milestone for Canadian mining, as these are North America’s first fully automated battery-electric loaders,” Sandvik said in a LinkedIn post. “(The Toro LH518iB’s) introduction highlights the potential of automation and electrification in mining.”
The company says the addition of the new heavy loaders will enable New Afton’s operations to “enhance cycle times and reduce heat, noise and greenhouse gas emissions” at the block cave mine – the only such operation (currently) in Canada.
Electrek’s Take
From drilling and rigging to heavy haul solutions, companies like Sandvik are proving that electric equipment is more than up to the task of moving dirt and pulling stuff out of the ground. At the same time, rising demand for nickel, lithium, and phosphates combined with the natural benefits of electrification are driving the adoption of electric mining machines while a persistent operator shortage is boosting demand for autonomous tech in those machines.
The combined factors listed above are rapidly accelerating the rate at which machines that are already in service are becoming obsolete – and, while some companies are exploring the cost/benefit of converting existing vehicles to electric or, in some cases, hydrogen, the general consensus seems to be that more companies will be be buying more new equipment more often in the years ahead.
What’s more, more of that equipment will be more and more likely to be autonomous as time goes on.
We covered the market outlook for autonomous and electric mining equipment earlier this summer, and I posted an episode exploring the growing demand for electric equipment on an episode of Quick Charge I’ve embedded, below. Check it out, then let us know what you think of the future of electric mining in the comments.
More EVs means more mines, equipment
SOURCE | IMAGES: Sandvik, via LinkedIn.
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European logistics firm Contargo is adding twenty of Mercedes’ new, 600 km-capable eActros battery electric semi trucks to its trimodal delivery fleet, bringing zero-emission shipping to Germany’s hinterland.
With over 300 miles of all-electric range, the new Mercedes eActros 600 electric semi truck was designed for (what a European would call) long-haul trucking. Now, after officially entering production at the company’s Wörth plant in Bavaria last month, the eActros 600 is reaching its first customer: Contargo.
With the addition of the twenty new Mercedes, Contargo’s electric truck fleet has grown to 60 BEVs, with plans to increase that total to 90. And, according to Mercedes, Contargo is just the first.
The German truck company says it has plans to deliver fifty (50) of the 600 kWh battery-equipped electric semi trucks to German shipping companies by the close of 2024.
Contargo’s 20 eActros 600 trucks were funded in part by the Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and Transport as part of a broader plan to replace a total of 86 diesel-engined commercial vehicles with more climate-friendly alternatives. The funding directive is coordinated by NOW GmbH, and the applications were approved by the Federal Office for Logistics and Mobility.
Electrek’s Take
Electric semi trucks are racking up millions of miles in the US, and abroad. As more and more pilot programs begin to pay off, they’re going to lead to more orders for battery electric trucks and more reductions in both diesel demand and harmful carbon emissions.
We can’t wait to see more.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Contargo, via Electrive.
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