How best to celebrate a brand’s centennial than to let the world have a peek into the future, right? Well, that was exactly what Bentley Motors did, by unveiling its vision of automobile of the future with the Bentley EXP 100 GT Electric Concept. It is an all-electric platform imagined for the year 2035. And befitting the future, it is fully autonomous and comes with an in-car butler, an artificial intelligence personal assistant known as Bentley Personal Assistant that sees to the comfort by monitoring the occupants’ well-being.
Don’t get creep out yet cos’ this digital butler is far from the kind of AI in Altered Carbon. Probably. I do not know if I like Poe to be on a journey with me, but anyways, by then I would probably be too old to be bothered. Bentley imagined this car of the future will be built with sustainable materials, including wood sourced from naturally fallen trees (fancily known as ‘Copper Infused Riverwood’), exterior paint work developed with recycled rice husks, and 100 percent organic leather-like textile from wine making.
A battery system, good for up to 700 kilometers (435 miles) range, powers four electric motors that enable the Bentley EXP 100 GT Electric Concept to rocket from 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) in under 2.5 seconds, sending it on its way to a top speed of 300 km/h (186 mph). The quick acceleration was thanks in part to a body made from lightweight aluminum and carbon fiber. All told, the vehicle tips the scales at “a remarkably trim 1,900 kilograms (4,189 lbs).” Well, “remarkably trim” for a Bentley Motors’ automobile.
The motors, btw, produces a mind-bending, metal-twisting 1,500 Nm. In line with the futuristic nature, the AI is controlled via an illuminated hand-blown, hand-cut Cumbria Crystal center piece and control center. There’s also a cartridge system right smack in the middle of the vehicle that delivers luxury items and services, such as a Purified Water Decanter and Crystal Glasses, from an under the hood storage area straight into the cabin. And then there is an innovative glass roof embedded with prisms that collect light and transfer it into the cabin using fiber optics.
Well, what can I say? Bentley should really call this a Fantasy Concept. I mean, seriously, those are like stuff you likely see in sci-fi movies and TV shows. Sadly, though, it still has wheels. Thankfully, 2035 is still more than a decade and a half away. Wait. Wasn’t Back to the Future II more than two decades from 2015? You can read in depth in a lengthy press release HERE, or get into the future now at this website.
All images courtesy of Bentley Motors.
