Jason Momoa's 584-HP electric Rolls-Royce Phantom II is all sorts of awesome
Rolls-Royce is perhaps the one brand in the world for which electrification makes perfect sense. Right from the very beginning, exacting engineer Henry Royce prided himself on creating cars that were smoother and quieter than anything else on the road. Today's Rolls-Royce Spectre, which is wafted along by two electric motors producing a total of 584 hp, is a silkily silent Rolls of which Mr. Royce would rightly approve.
Against that background, the decision by Aquaman, Dune, and Fast X star Jason Momoa to replace the 7.7-liter straight-six engine in his 1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom II with an electric motor is less an act of automotive heresy than it might seem. Indeed, it could be argued the stately 95-year-old Phantom, which features original coachwork by HJ Mulliner & Co, has been given a new lease of life that is absolutely on-brand and will allow it to be regularly driven well into to its second century.
A bespoke conversion for a stately subject
The conversion has been done by British firm Electrogenic, whose electric-powered Jaguar E-Type roadster impressed us when we drove it last year. Electrogenic specializes in EV conversions of classic cars that don't interfere with the original vehicle's structure, meaning the cars can be reconverted back to ICE power if needed, and they retain their value.
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In addition to cleverly engineered "plug and play" EV conversions for the E-Type, old Land Rovers and Minis, Triumph Stags and early Porsche 911s, Electrogenic will design and engineer bespoke conversions for almost any classic vehicle. With past bespoke projects such as a Citroën DS conversion that retained the car's unique hydro-pneumatic suspension, Electrogenic was the perfect fit for the Phantom II project, said Jason Momoa.
"I had to find the right partner," Momoa said. "I needed a team that would appreciate the history of this car while updating its technology and Electrogenic is all about honoring vintage cars, making them electric without losing any of the vehicle's character."
Six out
Electrogenic has replaced the Phantom II's massive straight-six, which despite its size made less than 50 hp, with a single 201 hp e-motor mounted where the original non-synchromesh four-speed manual transmission was located. The e-motor drives the rear wheels via a fixed reduction gear that increases its 229 lb-ft torque output to 738 lb-ft at the prop shaft. The motor is fed by a 95-kWh battery pack developed by Electrogenic that is mounted between the original frame rails and under a hand-formed, hand-riveted cowl that sits upright under the long center-hinged hood where the engine used to be.
The new powertrain is controlled by an electrical architecture and software created in-house at Electrogenic. Three different drive modes are available — Drive, Eco, and Sport — and the regenerative braking can be doubled to help slow the big, heavy Rolls-Royce on long, steep descents. Electrogenic claims a range of about 150 miles under normal driving conditions.
What has been preserved
Jason Momoa's Phantom II is far from simply an electric-powered Rolls-Royce restomod — old on the outside, all-new on the inside. Electrogenic has, for example, preserved the original mechanical, "through-flow" chassis lubrication system that was originally designed to send oil to the car's many phosphor-bronze bushes for brake and suspension linkages, as well as other mechanical control systems, to ensure it drove smoothly and quietly.
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The original cable-operated braking system has been carefully revised to work seamlessly with the updated EV architecture. The original brake pedal and cable mechanism sat under the bulkhead in space now taken by the large battery pack and the brake servo was housed in the transmission, but Electrogenic repositioned the cable linkages while maintaining the original ratios of the mechanical system and installed a hydraulic booster between the re-engineered brake pedal and the original cable actuators. The original brakes were then calibrated to work in tandem with the e-motor's regenerative braking capability, to enhance braking performance while also boosting efficiency and range.
Inside, Electrogenic engineers have worked hard to ensure the Phantom's interior retains its Killers of the Flower Moon-era character. The fuel gauge, originally a glass vertical tube, has been converted to an LED state-of-charge gauge. The amp meter has become an energy flow meter, showing power coming from the e-motor under acceleration and the energy recouped under regeneration. The water temperature gauge shows the operating temperature of the e-motor. Discreetly hidden away behind the original features of the leather and wood-lined cabin is a state-of-the-art, high-end multi-speaker audio system with an integrated sub-woofer and full Bluetooth connectivity.
Rather than transforming it beyond all recognition, Jason Momoa's Phantom II drives like an enhanced version of its original self, says Electrogenic director Steve Drummond. "It's a Phantom that performs as Rolls-Royce's engineers of a century ago would have wanted had they possessed the technology available to us today," he says.
