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Tag Archives: RollsRoyce
Rolls-Royce unveils early design for space nuclear reactor
A new image shows a possible version of future space propulsion.
Nuclear fission systems, which harness the energy released in the splitting of atoms, could be used to power astronaut bases on the moon or Mars. Or they could help shorten the travel time to the Red Planet, which takes six to nine months to reach with current-generation propulsion systems.
Rolls-Royce could be a part of that ambitious spaceflight future. The venerable company released an early-stage design of a micro-nuclear reactor on Friday (Jan. 27), in the wake of a 2021 agreement (opens in new tab) with the United Kingdom Space Agency to study future nuclear power options in space exploration.
“Each uranium particle is encapsulated in multiple protective layers that act as a containment system, allowing it to withstand extreme conditions,” Rolls-Royce tweeted (opens in new tab) in a brief description of the system.
Related: NASA funds nuclear probes for icy moons, huge new space telescopes and other far-out tech ideas
Nuclear systems have long flown on robotic space missions. For example, radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) provide electricity for many probes, including NASA’s Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft, which are currently exploring interstellar space. Big NASA Mars rovers like Perseverance and Curiosity also use RTGs, though smaller rovers such as Spirit and Opportunity went with solar panels.
But RTGs are not fission reactors. Rather, they are nuclear batteries, converting to electricity the heat thrown off by the decay of radioactive material. Nuclear fission has yet to power a spacecraft off Earth, though that could change soon; for example, NASA and DARPA recently announced plans to build a nuclear thermal rocket by 2027.
Nuclear fusion — the power source of the sun and other stars, which flows from the merging of atoms — could also one day be part of humanity’s spaceflight portfolio. That possible future is a long-term one, however; our species has yet to harness this power source here on Earth. (But U.S. scientists did announce a big breakthrough recently: a fusion experiment that produced more energy than it consumed.)
Speaking generally, some of the concerns of space fission or fusion power include safety for astronauts; portability, as more mass means a more expensive mission; and longevity in a harsh and rugged environment.
But nuclear power is a staple of space exploration nonetheless, both in reality and in science fiction. The technology even helped fuel a joke in the 2015 movie “The Martian.” In the film, astronaut Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon) — in search of warmth in an unheated rover and desperately digging up a reactor buried in regolith for safety reasons — said his Red Planet training manual had a section about surface operations labeled “Don’t Dig Up The Big Box of Plutonium, Mark.”
Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of “Why Am I Taller (opens in new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a book about space medicine. Follow her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
Owning a Rolls-Royce is not as luxurious as it seems
A luxury roll through time
I am now reading repetitive stories about Rolls-Royce being “on a roll.”
OK, but back when family silverware came largely from the Automat, I actually reported my Day One excitement of owning a Rolls-Royce. By Day 10 — in the Coney Island Times, which was all I could scratch up to write in back then — I reported the total experience.
The car my husband bought? It quick laid down dead. A wheeze, a cough — and straight to Rolls-Royce heaven. Second greatest day? It stopped on a six-lane highway and Fords, Chevrolets, Volkswagens zoomed by yelling “Get a horse.”
Our salesman, so British that next to him King Charles sounds southern, said: “Merely a minor adjustment, Moddom.” One month’s minor adjustment later my husband clambered back in. Ignition off, nobody around and the rear windows moved by themselves. Both directional signals worked simultaneously. And the rear’s right-side makeup mirror light lit up the mahogany desk on the left side.
Also, air conditioning in January blasted from the heating unit. “Minor adjustment, Moddom,” oozed its salesman, whose headquarters probably still has my Coney Island Times review somewhere hidden in their vault.
Car had 99 probs, I wasn’t one
On a country road straightaway, late at night, no other car around, this Silver Shadow triumph got up to 5 miles to the gallon. In city traffic that fell off a little. “One does not purchase a Rolls for economy,” hummed the salesman peering at us as if to say, “If the pound hadn’t devalued, we wouldn’t even be doing business with the likes of you.”
High noon, on 57th and Madison, this white dream car — JA4 license plate — had a crowd around. Photos were taken of it. The hood was up. Smoke billowed from the engine. I got onto the first thing moving — a bus going uptown — and where I was headed was downtown.
Next a brake lining problem and reheating situation. Also the radio stopped, rear license plate holder fell off, the trunk locked — and the car stopped dead. IN TRAFFIC. But so chic that even when it couldn’t move we, the owners, surged with pride leaning against it to summon a cab.
They say the only thing that makes noise in a Rolls is the clock. Yeah. Unless you count the owner crying.
We hadn’t realized ours had possibly been one of the earliest Silver Shadow designs and was maybe even a used store model. Whatever. To tell you the truth, the thrill of owning even an asthmatic Rolls dies hard.
Judy’s jibes
A HIGHLIGHT from Judge Judy’s scathing British press blast in case you missed it:
“Prince Harry writes William ‘recoiled’ from Meghan’s first hug. Biting the hand that fed him, he’s a selfish, spoiled, ungrateful disingenuous grandchild. I’d be furious and hurt if my child or grandchild did the same to me.”
Divorced Me-Me-Meghan dumped her father, castigated her former best friend, fought with everyone else, looked only to make money and get famous, and will eventually expend bodily fluid on Prince Empty as has his entire birthplace.
His name’s everywhere but on toilet paper. So . . . let’s . . . just . . . wait.
Meghan’s piggy bank will soon learn money can’t buy happiness. What it gets you is a richer class of estranged relatives.
Only in the UK, kids, only in the UK.
Rolls-Royce Spectre EV signals excess but isn’t a guzzler
The Rolls-Royce Spectre is the automaker’s first electric car to see production, and it proves even gilded luxury cars don’t have to be inefficient.
Because despite living up to Rolls’ tradition of excess—and that it’s a two-door car with a 214-plus-inch length—efficiency is actually pretty good, at 2.9 mi/kwh on the European WLTP testing cycle. For context, the GMC Hummer EV is in the range of 1.5 mi/kwh, although its size excludes it from official ratings.
Due to start deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2023, the Spectre will also deliver an estimated 260 miles of range on the EPA testing cycle, when equipped with 23-inch wheels. Rolls didn’t disclose the size of the battery pack, however, only saying that it weighs 1,543 lbs—almost a quarter of the Spectre’s 6,559-lb curb weight. It does provide a lot of sound deadening, Rolls noted.
Rolls-Royce Spectre
That’s an astounding weight for a two-door, four-seat coupe, especially considering that the Spectre uses an aluminum space-frame architecture. It’s an adapted version of the one used by Rolls’ current gasoline models, but the automaker claims a 30% increase in rigidity thanks to use of the pack as a structural element and some steel reinforcement, which likely doesn’t help with curb weight.
A 0.25 coefficient of drag makes the Spectre the most aerodynamic Rolls production car ever. That’s not quite as low as the Lucid Air, Mercedes-Benz EQS, and Tesla Model S, which come in at 0.20 to 0.21, but Rolls also went with a more traditional shape, with a strong resemblance to the Wraith coupe the Spectre essentially replaces. It even retains that coupe’s suicide doors.
A dual-motor all-wheel drive powertrain produces an estimated 577 hp and 664 lb-ft of torque. This should enable 0-60 mph in 4.4 seconds, Rolls estimates, while the top speed is capped at 150 mph.
Rolls-Royce Spectre
The Spectre is more about comfort than performance, though. Rolls addressed that with what it calls a Planar suspension system, an electronic roll-stabilization system that can pull data from more than 18 sensors to read the road surface and monitor vehicle status, as well as information from the navigation system, for suspension adjustments.
On straight roads, the system can decouple the anti-roll bars, allowing each wheel to move independently for a smoother ride that negates the vibration or rocking motion that typically occurs when only wheels on one side hit a bump, according to Rolls. Using the navigation system to anticipate curves, the system can re-couple the anti-roll bars, stiffen the dampers, and engage a four-wheel steering system for drama-free cornering.
Rolls-Royce Spectre
Rolls-Royce Spectre
Rolls-Royce Spectre
The interior is typical Rolls-Royce, with high-end materials and a high level of personalization potential. As with other Rolls models, the headliner can be equipped with illuminated “stars,” but in the Spectre they now extend to the door panels as well.
The Spectre has been a long time coming. Rolls first hinted at an electric car about a decade ago with the Phantom 102EX prototype. That project didn’t go anywhere and was replaced with a plan for plug-in hybrids. But then in 2016, the company seemingly returned to an electric vision.
Rolls-Royce is now due to go all-electric by 2030 under parent BMW’s ambitious electrification plan. It’s amounted to some noteworthy synergy with the Rolls-Royce aviation company, from which the car business was split off in 1973, which is also experimenting with electrification.
Cadillac outrolls Rolls-Royce with the $300,000 Celestiq electric sedan
Three months ago, Cadillac revealed a “show car” version of the Celestiq, the brand’s ultra-luxury battery-powered sedan. Today, I got to spend time with the production model, and yowza, this is a damn fine-looking automobile with a sky-high price tag to boot.
Sure, paying north of $300,000 for a car is out of reach for most of us, but Cadillac is going after the 1 percent of the 1 percent here with the 2024 Celestiq, offering customization that is beyond the scope of uber-luxury brands like Bentley and even Rolls-Royce.
Cadillac is going after the 1 percent of the 1 percent
As with other hand-built vehicles, customers can opt for custom paint, leather, and wheel colors, but General Motors is taking personalization to a whole other level. Thanks to the myriad 3D-printed parts — 115 of them to be exact — the company can offer more options for personal flair. You want your signature on the steering wheel? No problem! How about a special crosshatch pattern on an interior bit? With 3D-printed metal trim, it’s easy to change up the computer files for a totally unique look.
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One thing buyers likely won’t want to change is the power train. Each axle carries its own motor, and together, they produce an estimated 600 horsepower and 640 pound-feet of torque. Further, the company says it can sprint from a standstill to 60 miles per hour in 3.8 seconds. For a vehicle that is longer than an Escalade, that is quite a feat.
The 111kWh Ultium battery stores enough electrons for an estimated 300 miles of range, and the Celestiq can accept a charge of up to 200kW. Provided you can find a high-speed charger pumping out that much juice, you’ll get 78 miles of range in just 10 minutes. Owners will have access to Ultium Charge 360, a collaboration of over 110,000 public charging stations in the United States and Canada.
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Streaming content for the passenger is possible, but the screen is shadowed from the driver to minimize distraction. There is also an 11-inch Front Command Center touchscreen as well as an eight-inch screen for the rear-seat passengers and two 12.6-inch rear-seat entertainment screens. I didn’t get the chance to play with any of the screens, but there are clearly a lot of them.
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The interior of the display car is covered in blue leather with snuggly blue floor mats that feel like they were made from the softest lambswool in existence. Anything in the car that looks like metal is metal. It may be 3D printed, but it’s been brushed and polished by hand, with a sumptuous tactile feel.
The glass roof panel allows for four distinct zones of light entering through the roof. When set to the darkest level, only 1 percent of outside light makes it to the interior. Although that can be dialed up to 20 percent of available sunlight, it won’t affect the interior temperature. The pattern on the glass itself is really cool, evoking a futuristic, Tron-like aesthetic that fits with the sophisticated luxury of the interior.
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The 2-plus-2 seating configuration offers plenty of room in both rows, while the fastback profile allows for a fair amount of storage in the rear hatch area. There is a frunk, but I was not able to snag a look at it. A Cadillac representative told me it was large enough for a backpack, but I’ll have to get eyes on it to know for sure.
I didn’t get a chance to drive the Celestiq, but from the sound of it, this sedan should be akin to driving a cloud. I expected adaptive air suspension and all-wheel drive, but the Celestiq goes a bit further with Magnetic Ride Control 4.0 and Active Roll Control.
There is a frunk, but I was not able to snag a look at it
Magnetic Ride Control is a piece of engineering magic that allows the suspension to react to road imperfections in milliseconds for an ultra-smooth ride. I’ve experienced it in other Cadillac products, and it’s one of the best upgrades you can make in a performance car. The latest version in the Celestiq should make potholes as smooth as butter.
The Active Roll Control uses the 48-volt electrical architecture and the vehicle’s front and rear sway bars to keep the sedan flat in the corners. Again, I haven’t driven the thing, but if all components perform as advertised, the Celestiq should ride like a dream.
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All the usual advanced-driving assists will be featured on the Celestiq with the addition of Ultra Cruise, which is expected to make its debut in 2023. This system uses mapped roads and an integrated lidar to accelerate, brake, and steer on nearly 2 million miles of roads in Canada and the United States. Over-the-air updates will keep the technology fresh. %2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F24117694%2FIMG_2808.jpg&w=2400&q=75)
From the outside, the Celestiq strikes a unique pose. The doors open and close with the push of a button and, like the Lyriq, drivers are treated to a choreographed light dance as they approach the vehicle.
From the outside, the Celestiq strikes a unique pose
While the front end is distinctly Cadillac, the long dash-to-axle ratio and low-slung roof just exaggerate the car’s extended wheelbase. The sleek fastback profile gives it an avant-garde look not seen from Cadillac in years past. Angular taillights extend all the way to the wheel wells, a design element featured on the Lyriq electric SUV. Those wheel wells are filled with massive 23-inch rollers wrapped in summer-only Michelin Pilot Sport EV tires.
The first Cadillac Celestiq will be built in December 2023 at the company’s Global Technical Center in Warren, Michigan. While Cadillac plans to keep the Celestiq in its portfolio for many years to come, don’t expect to see too many on the road. In addition to its $300,000-plus price tag, Cadillac estimates it will only be able to build two vehicles per day, or about 500 each year. If you’ve got the coin and the inclination, you can put down a deposit at www.cadillac.com
Photographs by Emme Hall for The Verge
GM Has Its ‘Hermès’ Car to Take on Rolls-Royce
General Motors (GM) – Get General Motors Company Report finally seems to have a vehicle that will propel it back into the ranks of manufacturers of premiere high-end luxury vehicles to compete with the likes of Rolls-Royce and Bentley.
It is the club of manufacturers of the artisanal vehicles, one would be tempted to say. The principle of the brands belonging to this club is that each car leaving their factory is different from the others. The cars don’t look alike at all. Each customer can customize his car according to their tastes. It’s tailor-made.
To enter this elite club, GM has just unveiled the Cadillac Celestiq, the second all-electric model of the Detroit giant’s premium brand after the Lyriq. The vehicle is intended to change the perception of the Cadillac brand and to reconnect with its famous motto: “the standard of the world.”
GM Wants to Change the Narrative Around Cadillac
The group has just revealed this concept car on Instagram.
It’s an an imposing luxury electric sedan that the company aims to bring to market by 2024. The design draws on the Cadillac mythos. It has futuristic lines which, especially in the rear area, offers a very innovative look, using two pairs of boomerang LEDs that act as optical groups and at the same time as real styling cues on the side. The rear part is very plunging but, given the length of the vehicle, one could almost see a cross between the 4-seater coupe and the hunting station wagon.
Celestiq’s designers have traveled back in time to study pre-war V-16s and the 1957 Eldorado Brougham to draw inspiration. Fewer than 400 Eldorado Broughams were built, for a starting price of $13,074 each. At the time, a Rolls-Royce Silver Wrath was sold for $9,000. Adjusted for inflation, those figures would be roughly 10 times as much today.
“Those vehicles represented the pinnacle of luxury in their respective eras, and helped make Cadillac the standard of the world,” Tony Roma, chief engineer of the Celestiq, said in a press release. “The Celestiq show car — also a sedan, because the configuration offers the very best luxury experience — builds on that pedigree and captures the spirt of arrival they expressed.”
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There are similar details between the Celestiq and the Eldorado Brougham, such as the presence of the “Flying Goddess”, formerly used on the radiators in the ornament near the front wheel arch. There’s also a contrast between the high-tech digital trim and the color of the upholstery and the shape of the steering wheel, which looks vintage.
Cadillac has provided numerous internal LED screens, including a gigantic 55″ panel that crosses the entire dashboard that stands out, like the Mercedes MBUX Hyperscreen. Passengers can count on a sort of virtual curtain, which allows them to enjoy different video content, not visible to the occupants of the cabin. The front passenger will be able to watch videos or other content on the large screen without the driver being able to see anything due to their angle. The other screens are found on the front and rear consoles as well as the on the back of each front seat.
$300,000 a Unit?
The roof also uses smart glass technology , which creates four distinct areas that can be masked by the respective passengers to control the amount of light coming through.
GM still hasn’t released technical information on the Cadillac Celestiq. We know that this sedan will be electric but we still don’t know how many miles it will be able to travel with a charge, for example.
Production, which will be based on GM’s Ultium modular platform for EVs, is expected to begin in late 2023.
The Celestiq will be a very niche and exclusive product, GM says, with each unit hand-crafted and customized for each buyer at dedicated facilities in Warren, Mich. Its base price could be around $300,000 or more. The auto maker intends to build fewer than 500 Celestiqs annually as a way to showcase its technology, boost rarity value and generate buzz for Cadillac.
Earlier this month, GM said it was investing more than $81 million into the GM Technical Center in Warren for the Celestiq. The car will be equipped with the new generation of Ultra Cruise, the company’s driver assistance system.
Cadillac aims for an all-electric portfolio by 2030.
Tweaking The 2023 BMW 7-Series Makes It Look Even More Like A Rolls-Royce
This is a rendering by Sugar Chow and is not related to nor endorsed by BMW.
At this point most people are aware that BMW owns Rolls-Royce. But now that the German automaker has just debuted their latest 7-Series flagship sedan, it begs the question if they could bring it upmarket enough to compete on the same level as Rolls if they wanted to. Digital artist Sugar Chow tried to imagine that as they injected some of the British luxury brand’s DNA into the latest 7er.
The overarching trend of the redesign seems to be squaring it off more to put it in line with Rolls-Royce‘s imposing, almost architectural design language. This is very evident up front, where the hood and bumper now join at with a same type of 90-degree character line found on all three of Rolls-Royce’s current models.
Read More: You Can Already Pre-Order And Configure The 2023 BMW i7, Show Us Your Build
Chow also leaned into BMW‘s large grille theme by making it nearly as tall as the bumper, but it’s surprisingly quite tolerable. On the opposite front, the controversial quad headlights were toned down by combining them into a single unit at the top. The crease connected to the headlight now extends from top to bottom on the bumper, and it pairs with the aforementioned 90-segree character line that extends across the side of the car. The bumper and grille also feature a new horizontal kink to accommodate the newly empty space created by joining the headlights.
See Also: New BMW M760e And i7 M70 xDrive Performance Models Coming In 2023 With Up To 600 HP
Out back, the changes were minimal but impactful. The crease on the bottom of the bumper changed directions to point towards the rear of the car, and it was extended upward to join the character line through the lower part of the trunk. The reflectors were also moved to the bottom of the bumper and the license plate area was revised slightly. Additionally, the taillights were also squared off and lengthened, and the lighting design changed to something more similar to the all-red ones found on the 5-Series. The final touch involved moving the i7 badge from the top left corner of the rear end to dead center on the trunk for more impact.
We’d argue that Sugar Chow’s design may even be better than the one BMW put out given how much more solidity and presence it has to it, but what do you think? Let us know in the comments.
Pete Davidson Drives Kim Kardashian’s Rolls-Royce to 7-Eleven for Cigarettes
Pete Davidson is venturing out to parts of L.A. where a Rolls-Royce has rarely traveled — 7-Eleven!!!
Pete was tooling around again Friday in GF Kim Kardashian‘s tank of a car, breezing into the store that never closes for a pack of smokes.
And, this is interesting … he’s not spending Xmas in Staten Island, which he has called home since birth. He’s ensconced in L.A. with Kim, although we’re told he’s staying at a hotel.
He was also not at the Kardashian/Jenner Christmas Eve soiree … a scaled-back affair because of COVID.
Kim and Pete are definitely a thing … they’ve been bouncing back and forth between coasts to see each other, although it seems Pete’s traveling west more than Kim’s going east.
They’ve certainly made the rounds … grabbing grub at the Bev Hills Hotel after both returned from NYC. They had a very public date on Staten Island last weekend … where Kim and Pete rented out a private theater just for them … but they were busted by a bunch of moviegoers who went crazy with their cell phones.
Pete’s clearly fond of the Rolls … he’s taken it jewelry and weed shopping.
Rolls-Royce Plans to Build Small Nuclear Power Plants in Britain
Rolls-Royce, the British jet engine maker, said on Tuesday that it was forming a new business to build a series of smaller, cheaper nuclear reactors as Britain looks for ways to cut carbon emissions and to reduce the costs of nuclear energy.
The kind of reactor proposed by Rolls-Royce would cover about two soccer fields, or about one-tenth the acreage of a conventional nuclear power station, the company said.
These plants would generate less power — about one-seventh the output of the giant nuclear installation being built at Hinkley Point in southwest England.
But Rolls-Royce said it hopes to reduce construction costs to around £2 billion ($2.7 billion) each, compared to an estimated £22.5 billion for the Hinkley Point plant. Some of the savings would come from building a large number of plants and making modules in factories that can then be assembled at sites.
The company hopes to build 16 of the plants, known as small modular reactors, and said each could power around one million homes.
The British government will contribute a grant of £210 million to develop the plants, while Rolls-Royce and its partners, including Exelon Generation, an American nuclear power company, and BNF Resources, a private company, would together invest £195 million over three years.
The government is looking for sources of clean power to replace Britain’s aging nuclear plants, although the Rolls-Royce models are unlikely to come online for at least a decade.
Along with being a tool for hitting ambitious emissions targets, the government also views the small nuclear program as a way to deliver on its promise to generate jobs in northern England, where Rolls-Royce said much of the investment would be based. The government also hopes to create an export industry supplying such plants to other countries.
Britain, though, is likely to encounter competition from France, which recently announced its own small reactor program, and the United States, where operators are working on similar concepts. Last week, Nuscale Power, based in Portland, Ore., announced an agreement to build small modular reactors in Romania.
Despite risks from accidents, nuclear energy is attracting new interest in Europe and elsewhere as a tool for countries to hit increasingly ambitious targets to reduce the carbon emissions responsible for climate change. Nuclear plants are valued for providing large amounts of low-carbon electricity.
Rolls-Royce’s work with nuclear power includes designing the reactors aboard Britain’s nuclear submarines, work that began in the 1950s.