British tabloid The Sun reported this week that the next James Bond movie will feature an all-electric Aston Martin Rapide E as 007’s featured ride in an effort to give the government-sanctioned killer a greener persona. While Bond films have featured countless vehicles, Astons are typically reserved for series’ titular hero — though he has driven a weird amount of Fords throughout the years.
Developed with loads of help from Williams Advanced Engineering, the Rapide E will be James’ first electric vehicle (watercraft and moon buggy excluded) and was an intentional decision on the part of the film’s director, Cary Joji Fukunaga, to update the character. “The decision was spearheaded by the film’s new director, who’s a total tree-hugger,” claimed The Sun’s unnamed source. “He is working directly with Aston Martin to get one of their electric cars ready for its big close-up.”
“It’s going to be the centre of an incredible action sequence in the movie. James Bond is known for driving amazing cars and this one won’t disappoint either,” the source continued. “It’s going to have all the high-tech gadgets. To be clear, this is something Cary pushed for and Daniel and the producers are going along with … Everybody is afraid of Bond getting labelled ‘too PC’ but they all felt the time was right to put him in a zero-emission vehicle.”
We’re hoping that sequence involves the car making a noble sacrifice to protect its owner, with the EV bursting into flames as countless energy cells shoot out of the battery pack like little roman candles. Of course, if the filmmakers are truly trying to push the green angle, that might not be in the cards.
However, it might be easy to overstate the claim that this is all simply about using entertainment to promote automotive electrification. Bond’s filmic Aston Martin is frequently whatever hot new model the automaker has on the table (except for the early books, where he often drives Bentleys). The Rapide E follows that trend. Scheduled to enter production towards the end of 2019, not long before the film’s expected release, the twin-motor EV is said to boast over 610 metric horsepower and 700 lb-ft of torque — more output than its internal combustion counterpart’s 6.0-liter V12.
It does, however, top out at a mere 155 mph and is rumored to possess a maximum range of around 200 miles (WLTP). Hopefully, James isn’t going to get involved in any extended highway getaways after a long day of tailing bad guys. Then again, movie magic will probably take care of that, unless the film’s authors need a convenient place for a sex scene, shootout, or both.
The movie, which is still in pre-production under the working title of Shatterhand, could end up coming out slightly later than anticipated due to repeated delays. But we doubt it will impact Rapide E sales if it’s released later than initially expected. Aston Martin only plans on building 155 examples of the limited-run model.
[Images: Aston Martin]
Commence the outrage. James Bond is driving an electric car. It’s the end of western civilization as we know it!
The EV won’t be noticed with a Bond who is gender fluid and changes color with temperature like a mood ring.
jatz: Ah guests thet thur Jimmy Bond mus’ be gay, for shore, if he’s a-drivin’ one ’em ‘lectrical corntrapshuns! Ah’ll take muh John Dear!
They’re absolutely adorable at this age.
They already wrecked his image when they stuck him in that little BMW Z3 from Goldeneye. He looked like a middle-aged, upper middle class housewife in that car
Nah, that wasn’t the low point. Poor Bond got stuck scuttling through Paris in half a Renault, trundling around a jungle in a 2CV, and – indignity of indignities – chasing an AMC Matador in a Hornet. And the Hornet had plaid seats. The horror.
A Z3’s a Veyron compared to any of those hoopties.
That paint job…
You could put that grille on a Tesla and it would still be magical.
Oh, wait…
M: “Dammit 007 where are you? Spectre says they will blow up Big Ben in 15 minutes unless you deliver them $25 million pounds.”
Bond: “Sorry, I ran out of juice in the electric Aston that Q just gave me, and I need to wait another 30 minutes to recharge the battery, but then I’ll have 80% range as long as I don’t use the heater, ejector seat, smoke screen, cigarette lighter, or drive fast. Tell Spectre to cut us a bit of slack since we are saving the planet from global warming.”
Pan Camera to Big Ben 15 minutes later: “Boom”.
@stingray: Let’s see what happens if he goes to the V-12…
Bond: “Sorry, the Aston that Q gave me is in for its 65k mile rebuild, and I need to wait another 6 weeks for the parts, but then I’ll have 100% range as long as it doesn’t break down en route. Tell Spectre to cut us a bit of slack and have a flatbed on standby since we are saving the planet from people with even the slightest bit of intelligence.”
https://www.motor1.com/news/297399/aston-martin-valkyrie-engine-life/
In defense of the luddites, had Bond had to stop every couple of hundred miles to charge I doubt he’d have made it to his boyhood home at Skyfall in time to prep the place for the bad guys.
Also, when the heck has Bond put 5000 let alone 65000 miles on a car without blowing it up.
They already had the partially-electric C-X75 in Spectre, which worked out fine. Also, not like the eRapide is a Nissan Leaf.
Although, given that the Craig-era movies have leaned heavily into “BOND IS AN EFFECTIVE DINOSAUR,” not sure if they’ll ignore that so they can work in this variety of product placement (no pearl clutching though, product placement is a hallmark of the franchise).
Big Bond fan here.
Big gas up the V 8 and go guy here.
No problem with an -e car in the bond film. Every film have 007 using advanced tech. -e cars are advanced tech. Simple.
wow us dude.
The chase scenes just got a lot quieter.
Electric powered machine guns will take care of that.
Stupid tree-huger propaganda
Please say it ain’t so. I hope he never gets laid again.
May as well turn the soundtrack off. Is he going to start drinking Coors too?
In the next installment, he’ll be joining the MeeToo movement….
From one James to another,
I’d rather have one-half of the Z8 they cruelly sawed in two, ride it like a motorcycle or something.
I am not following Bond movies. Is he still straight white man with blue cold eyes? It is time to make him sex/gender neutral if not explicitly woman.
The Rapide’s awesome. But it needs that V12.
Can it still go underwater, or would it short out? I smell an upcoming Mythbusters episode…
(You seem to have some overspray to clean up – I mean decals.)
Dr. No (emissions).
Full disclosure: not my line, I read it on another site and it made me smile.
The car has always been high tech and loaded with gadgetry. Like it or not electric is viewed as more forward thinking by the general public and Bond’s car is supposed to be cutting edge. I suspect that is more important than “greenwashing” his ride. Ultimately the actual propulsion is irrelevant if the car makes the appropriate splash that is expected.
Clint Eastwood survived “Bridges of Madison County”…Bond will survive an electric Aston. Really.
Working title for the film: View to a Carbon Credit
And in 30 years those of us still alive will be conflating it with Octogender and Quran of Solace like we now do the Connery Bond flicks.
It’s messaging, pure and simple. To think otherwise is naive to say the least.
However, As one of the B & B has already posted, it likely will not matter much if the car makes a big splash nd has the right toys and has a ‘wow’ factor. Would also help if civilian models would go on sale around the same time the movie is out.
The above being said, the fact it is messaging still matters, and not in a good way. Moreover, if most people don’t even know or realize, while watching the movie, the car is “green”, then what is the point?
It would be pretty cool to see a dead silent except for tire noise car chase. I mean, wow. We’ve sure come a long way from those 1974 AMC products body leaning, squealing, and brake diving in “The Man With the Golden Gun!”
It sure would be fun to see a Model S attempt to endure the chassis slams of Bullitt.
Yup, with the baddies doused in battery acid as the batteries under the floor explode on landing! They would then drive under a semi.
Under a gas tanker so they could still have splosions!
In the final climactic scene, the bad guy steals the electric supercar, I mean, electric 4-door sedan, Bond forces him off the road into a lake, where the baddie is instantly electrocuted.