THE SILENT ROADSTER

“No, it’s not an MGB,” my carloving friend says, and his sceptical eye goes over more of RBW’s retro roadster with dismissive furrowing of eyebrows. “No, no, I don’t get it. And how much is it again?” It is a lot of money, I admit. Over £100,000 by the time you’ve added UK VAT and talked about exactly how you’d like to spec your car. “What’s wrong with a normal MGB?” he asks, exhaustedly. Looking at the basic specification, an all-electric car with a range of 160 miles that produces a modest 70kW of power (98bhp and 176lb.ft torque) for performance of just 80mph and an 8.9-second 0-60mph time isn’t all that impressive, it’s true. There is a longer range capability, with a seventh battery available as an option, but even that configuration’s 200-mile range remains only on a par with a standard, petrol MGB. As an electric conversion for an MGB roadster, then, the