Guildford-based start-up Halcyon has revealed a new restomod based on the Rolls-Royce Corniche and Silver Shadow, converting the classic cruisers to electric power using an architecture developed entirely in-house.
Based on the later rubber-bumpered models, it swaps the original circa-200bhp 6.75-litre V8 for a rear-mounted electric motor with significantly more poke. Standard Range examples get around 400bhp, while the Long Range is boosted to some 500bhp.
Under the bonnet lies a large battery pack constructed in the same vee shape as the original powerplant; at the rear end sits a second unit that replaces the petrol tank. This set-up is said to preserve both the packaging and the weight distribution of the original car, tipping the scales at the same 2.2 tonnes (split 53:47, front to rear).
Standard Range cars are claimed by Halcyon to deliver a range of around 200-250 miles, while the Long Range manages 250-300 miles.
The system runs on 800V electricals, allowing charge rates of up to 230kW. This yields a 10-80% refill in around 40 minutes.
The entire electrical package and the software on which it runs was developed and supplied by Halcyon’s sister company, Evice. This, according to the companies’ co-founder and CEO Matthew Pearson, gave much greater freedom to develop an ideal technical solution for the Silver Shadow platform.
There are three driving modes to maximise the bandwidth of the Halcyon Corniche’s capabilities, named Drive, Spirited and Touring. Pearson explained: “In Spirited you’ll get a slightly more responsive throttle, slightly firmer dampers both passively and actively; and in Touring, if you’re on a motorway, enable cruise control and the dampers will slack right off – you’ll just be on a floating cloud.” Because the entire electrical package is the company’s own development, rather than a series of off-the-shelf components, “we can be quite precise with how we want the car to behave”.
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Who needs an electric motor in old Roller? John Dodds had it right, with his Meteor, later Merlin, emgined The Beast.
Yet another 'bunch of EV dreamer's' who will go to the wall owing millions.
"Based on the later rubber bumpered model" -clearly not according to the pictures! with 4-500 BHP.....why on earth would a Corniche need this amount of power....this is not what a Corniche is about?
I have driven many Corniches in my lifetime, and "torsional ridgidety" was never an impression that I observed amongst it's attributes !!!
And all this before we cover the tricky issue of the pricing. Madness.
£450,000 (including the donor car) isn't a stratospheric asking price? That's about the price of a new Phantom....
But is 450k too much to drive around looking like a disgraced 70s entertainer?
Comment of the week!