REPORT: Electric Rolls-Royce Phantom could arrive within a year

Adding fuel to the rumormill fire, Autocar reports that a pure electric version of the Rolls-Royce Phantom could hit the streets within 12 months. Rolls' parent company, BMW, has been getting heavily involved in EVs and the Phantom would be an obvious choice to launch its new drivetrain considering the price premium already tacked onto the brand's offerings.

Since Phantom owners tend to be driven rather than drive and rarely use their luxo-barges for long road trips (that's what the jet is for), the decision to offer an EV Phantom makes sense on many levels. Given the size and mass of the Phantom, the bulk of the batteries wouldn't affect performance or comfort, and cost... well, that's not an issue when you're dealing with $300,000+ vehicles. In spite of that, Rolls-Royce may end up only leasing the initial batch of electric Phantoms in small numbers just as BMW has done with the MINI E.

[Source: Autocar]