Yahoo Autos This Electric Rolls-Royce Has the Right Idea
Electric vehicles were made, and unmade by fleets. It was the Electric Vehicle Company, operating in the early Nineteen-Hundreds, that became the largest automaker in the world with an international fleet of electric battery-swapping taxi cabs. But growing to be the biggest EV concern worldwide helped destroy itself.
Eventually the success of being the biggest electric carmaker became a burden. A cab company doesn't want to be an innovator in the automotive world. It wants to run cabs as cheaply as possible, and any excessive maintenance costs start getting annoying. By the early Teens, the Electric Vehicle Company was fed up with keeping these weird electric cabs going and shut down. Plenty of gas-powered cab companies sprung up in its place.
It is with this in mind that I cautiously promote this 1960 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II originally for Sophia Loren, EV-converted by a British company called Lunaz for use as a hotel shuttle kind of thing. On the one hand, this is a perfect use of an old Rolls. It doesn't need to drive far. It can always be safely charged. It is silent and comfortable and modern just as it is vintage and stylish. It is an old house, renovated.
And it seems to be a relatively successful program, as Driving.co.uk notes:
The Hotel Programme by Lunaz has already seen commissions come in for classic Rolls-Royce and Bentley models converted to EVs so that they can still be used in emissions-regulated city centres. One hotel has also commissioned a converted 1990s long-wheelbase Range Rover so that its clients could be driven off into the woods. For incredibly quiet picnics, one assumes. Loren’s Rolls-Royce is the first of the hotel programme cars to be completed.
On the other hand, any other hotel operating a 1960 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II can go to any old vintage car shop if any repairs or maintenance are required. A hotel taking on a Lunaz EV conversion is going to have to call Lunaz (assuming it's still in business down the line) and figure things out.
Lunaz has been doing this kind of conversion work on classic double-Rs since 2020, and also did this spectacular Jag, so it is not quite born yesterday, but still. EVs are meant to be low- or zero-maintenance machines, but ask anyone with a Tesla what it's like to rely on a startup for even basic repairs. Regardless, we wish Lunaz the best of luck. This R-R looks amazing.
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