Rolls Royce makes Electric car to lighten sick children in the hospital

Rolls Royce EV

Rolls-Royce has disclosed its smallest automobile yet, and the company's first electrical vehicle (EV). However rather than being a city-Centre friendly luxury ev, the firm has created a one-off automobile for kids to drive on hospital corridors while they wait for surgery.

The customised car, complete with the signature Rolls-Royce chrome grille and Spirit of Ecstasy bonnet ornament, was designed for the pediatric day surgery unit at St Richard's Hospital within the company's town of Chichester, west Sussex.

The Rolls-Royce SRH can allow kids to drive themselves to the operating theatre, through corridors lined with special traffic signs to guide them. The choice to drive themselves to theatre is aimed to scale back stress among the hospital's youngest patients.

Two kids were invited to the Rolls-Royce assembly line at Goodwood to witness the unveiling of the car in the company's studio, before driving it on the assembly line, an act sometimes reserved for the chief executive when signing off new vehicles.

 

A Child driving

The company says the electric car's luxury interior is "appointed with identical finesse and attention-to-detail afforded to each Rolls-Royce patron". The car features a two-ton hand wheel, leather seats, 3D-printed components and also the same self-righting wheel centres as used by the company's full-size cars.

The Rolls-Royce SRH,  that took over 400 man-hours to create, has a top speed of 10mph but will be restricted to 4mph depending on the age and proficiency of the driver. The car will be formally handed over to the hospital on 1st of March.

Marianne Griffiths, chief executive of the West Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, described the car as "simply priceless", adding: "It is a very special gift and one in all the most wonderful donations ever received by Love Your Hospital, our trust's dedicated charity."

Sue Nicholls, paediatric matron at the Trust, said: "It's terrific seeing a smiley face on the way to theatres, instead of an apprehensive one, and everybody caring for children at St Richard's is so grateful to Rolls-Royce for this distinctive donation... in the coming years it'll facilitate turn a daunting experience into a more fun and pleasurable one for hundreds and hundreds of kids."

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