It’s about time James Bond drove an electric car

Information technology's about fourth dimension James Bond collection an electric car

(Prototype credit: Tesla / MGM via 007.com)

Last week saw the latest James Bond movie, No Time to Dice, arrived in theaters. Information technology feels similar an age since the motion picture was first appear, cheers to a series of pandemic-induced delays, but Bail finally managed to return to the large screen.

Of course it wouldn't be a Bond movie without cars, and No Time to Dice is no exception. the motion picture fifty-fifty features a brief appearance from the Aston Martin Valhalla — a new supercar that's also a plug-in hybrid. No electrical cars, though, and it's about time U.k.'southward favorite super-spy embraced electrification.

How to sentinel James Bail movies in guild
Everything yous demand to know about No Time to Die
Plus: Here are the best electric cars yous tin can order correct now

Bond has boosted sales before, and he could do it for EVs

Teslas accept already appeared in a smattering of Hollywood movies, while the likes of the BMW i8 and Audi e-tron made cameos in Mission Impossible four and Avengers: Endgame, respectively. Despite this, Hollywood has mostly stayed clear of electric cars in favor of onetime-fashioned internal combustion engines. Just await at the Fast and Furious franchise.

Actually, there's no better identify to beginning making that change towards large screen EVs than a Bond movie. Particularly given the franchise'south long-standing history with cars, and the affect information technology has had on Aston Martin'southward ain automobile sales.

Information technology'south oft said that Bond classic Goldfinger helped to increase sales of the Aston Martin DB5, and Aston Martin itself also said that it expected No Time to Dice to assist reverse its declining sales. That was pre-pandemic, back when Bond 25 was expected to release in mid-2020 and before all the financial difficulties the pandemic has inflicted on people. Needless to say Aston Martin's sales figures did not fare well throughout 2020.

But it's not just cars. The Bond franchise is a treasure trove of product placement, from Omega watches to Smirnoff vodka. In fact, having your products in a Bail picture is such a large bargain that Ford (so owner of Aston Martin) reportedly paid $35 million to ensure its cars were used in 2002's Dice Another Day.

That's the equivalent of $53 meg today, once you lot business relationship for inflation, and it but goes to bear witness how valuable the Bond franchise is in terms of product placement. If any film is going to help push people towards electrification, James Bond would be the star.

Of course there will be some people out there that would exist outraged to see James Bond driving an electric car. The kind of idiot that would whine and moan about Bond succumbing to some sort of woke agenda, then immediately ruining their engine by going dwelling and doing some coal rolling.

Frankly having Bail evidence upwards in an EV, even for a single machine chase, would be absolutely priceless exposure for whichever company was on screen. It'due south just incredible that nobody seems to take realized that.

Which EV would bail drive?

The merely real issue is deciding which EV Bail would be driving on screen. Because Aston Martin doesn't actually sell one.

The automaker appear plans for an electric car, the Rapide East, back in 2015, but so shelved those plans last year. According to the automaker, what was supposed to be the Rapide E will now "go a research project used to further Aston'due south broader electrification programme".

In the concurrently the company has produced two plug-in hybrids: The Valkyrie and the Valhalla. However, the Valkyrie was a limited run model that didn't become a broad release, and the Valhalla isn't due to arrive until 2023.

Maybe past the fourth dimension Bail 26 rolls around, Aston Martin will have ane or more fully electric cars on the road. Or at the very least one that's far enough into development that the side by side Bond actor can fire passengers out through the roof.

The company has claimed ninety per cent of its cars would exist electrified by 2030, and it would be building new electric cars in the Great britain from 2025. So information technology just depends how long it takes to recast Daniel Craig and figure out where Bond goes side by side.

Though, the honest truth is that Bond should accept an EV already, and shouldn't be relegated to driving a hybrid. Because this isn't 2005, and electrical cars are not the gimmicky jokes they once were.

Even if Aston Martin has held off on selling an all-electric car to the general public, it'due south not like MI6 doesn't take a proven rails record at modifying cars with whatever technology Q feels Bond might need on his mission.

Afterward all, if MI6 can put together an invisible Beat out, or a Lotus Espirit 1 that's likewise a working submarine, swapping out a DB5'due south gas tank for a battery should be a piece of cake. Hell, ordinary people take been able to brand a business out of retrofitting classic cars with electrical innards, so Q could probably knock one out in an afternoon.

At that place's no shortage of Bond-worthy EVs on sale

Arguably Tesla would be the platonic candidate for an electrical Bond car, no matter what your thoughts are of Elon Musk. Tesla is the make that proved electric cars could piece of work, and something like the 2022 Tesla Roadster is the perfect mix of things you'd wait from a Bail car. It's sleek, sporty, and it's fast enough to get Bond away from whatever henchman is after him.

Plus with 600 miles of range on the cards, and Supercharging abilities, those baddies aren't likely to catch up when Bond has to stop and recharge.

But Tesla isn't the merely EV maker out at that place, and arguably it'due south popular enough that information technology doesn't exactly demand the exposure a Bail picture show advent would provide. There are enough of other luxury automakers out there who would impale for the kind of publicity you can only go from a Hollywood blockbuster.

Classic British carmaker Jaguar already has electric cars on sale, while Bentley and Rolls Royce have unveiled their own plans for electrification over the next few years. However if the filmmakers aren't so bothered about keeping Bond backside the wheel of a British (or historically British) motorcar, they're basically spoilt for choice.

Bail could introduce brands like Rimac or Polestar, that have been making waves amid EV enthusiasts, to the average moviegoer. Then you have all the established automakers that are slowly weaning themselves off the internal combustion engine, like Ford, Audi, Mercedes Benz, and BMW. All of whom could offer something suitably 'Bail-worthy' for a futurity picture show.

Bottom Line

Hollywood should be trying to make this a standard feature in its movies, not just the ones starring James Bond. Well most movies, considering I'm non entirely sure an electric car would work quite so well in the next Fast and Furious movie.

Then over again the most recent entry features Roman and Tej diggings into space with a rocket machine. Then stranger things tin and do happen in that franchise.

But there's absolutely no reason why Bond shouldn't exist able to bulldoze a whole range of electric vehicles. Hither's just hoping that whoever plays the next Bond, be it Idris Elba or someone completely different, gets to speed off without the roar of an engine and leaving a huge plume of exhaust in his wake.

007 may have a licence to kill, but that doesn't excuse reckless disregard for local air quality.

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Tom is the Tom'south Guide'southward Automotive Editor, which means he tin ordinarily be found human knee deep in stats the latest and all-time electric cars, or checking out some sort of driving gadget. Information technology's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He'southward usually establish trying to squeeze another behemothic Lego fix onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining that Ikea won't allow him buy the stuff he really needs online.