The upcoming Cadillac Celestiq will be the luxury marque’s flagship vehicle, combining full-size dimensions with cutting-edge technology and style. Recently, Cadillac Society delved into the specifics of the ultra-high-tech SPD-SmartGlass roof that will be featured on the upcoming flagship sedan. Now, we’ve learned that this progressive tech could help improve the Celestiq’s driving range.
A rendering of the upcoming Cadillac Celestiq by Cadillac Society
As a reminder, the Celestiq’s SPD-SmartGlass roof will enable each passenger to adjust the opacity of the roof to their liking. Nanotechnology integrated into the glass responds to an electrical charge and changes the roof’s transparency accordingly. The Celestiq’s glass roof will be split into four quadrants, allowing each passenger to personalize their section according to their preference.
Besides the obvious personalization benefits, the SPD-SmartGlass roof to be featured on the Cadillac Celestiq could prove advantageous in increasing the vehicle’s driving range. That’s because increasing the glass’s opacity can help reduce cabin temperature, according to Joe Harary, CEO of Research Frontiers, the company that makes SPD-SmartGlass.
Harary told Cadillac Society executive editor Alex Luft that the high-tech glass can help reduce cabin temperatures by as much as 18 degrees Fahrenheit when equipped on a vehicle with a small sunroof. Since the Celestiq will feature a full glass roof, that statistic could be even higher for the upcoming flagship.
Cooler cabin temperatures mean that the Celestiq won’t need to divert as much power to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system to keep vehicle temperatures at comfortable levels. Less reliance on the A/C, in turn, means less electricity would be used up by the compressor, therefore allowing the extra energy to be used by the vehicle for additional driving range. That, in turn, could mean that a smaller A/C compressor can be used, further reducing weight and increasing mileage per charge.
Harary also cited a Continental Automotive study that found SPD-SmartGlass has the potential to increase electric vehicle driving range by 5.5 percent, thanks to cooler cabin temps. The study also found that the progressive glass tech could reduce CO2 emissions by 4 grams per kilometer when implemented on cars with internal combustion engines.
The Cadillac Celestiq will become the luxury marque’s flagship vehicle once it launches for the 2024 model year. With the exception of batteries and frame/body stampings, it will be hand-built in the Detroit area and carry a starting price tag of around $200,000.
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willyvictor
Oh joy. Can’t wait to see this coal-fired dumpster burn. First the Titanic and now this.
Dominick
Cadillac should have made a better effort to market the ct6. The best Cadillac I ever had. What happened to the Standard of the World.
John M Engelman
The CT6 was the best engineered, beautiful looking, most unique, Cadillac, made in the last 60 years and Cadillac/GM couldn’t and didn’t recognize, or support that. It was the ONLY automobile GM made that was not generic to other automobiles from GM. The engineering, chassis, engine(3.0 TT, and Blackwing)), styling, features, like Panaray, Super Cruise, AWS, Indirect Fire LED headlamps, among others, were unique to the CT6. It is sooo sad. This Celestiq thing is a joke in soo many ways. Cadillac does not have an automobile lin-up like other luxury marks…i.e. BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and even Genesis, yet their reaching for RR and Bentley, really. They can’t even service the $100,000 buyer with a level of distinction, let alone a $400,000 customer…..So what do we have today…..two entry level sedans, three mediocre SUV’s with 4 cylinder engines, and a Chevy Suburban with leather interior and…….a Corvette engine…..Can someone please tell me what your going to do with 670hp. in a vehicle with that high center of gravity. It seems that all Cadillac is about now is high priced, extra, extra marked up vehicles, like the Escalade V, these “special edition CT4 V “Blackwings” and I’m sure there will be CT5 V Blackwing S.Ed. with a 6 yr. old Corvette engine sucking every dollar they can out of the cusstomer with a limited number.
Cadillac will be out of the car business in a few short years and the only thing left will be electric trucks and SUV’s…and that sure as hell is not…”The Standard of the World”
Quick Silver 1
Around $200K…good luck selling them. They are not a Bentley competitor, so where is the market? Oh, I forgot, China.
Price them in the $60-90K range and they are marketable in the US, unless Cadillac does what it does best and DOESN’T market them. They will be a loss leader, but Mary will see that they are produced. They dropped the CT6 in the US and it could have sold well, again if it were marketed.
They are pushing the hell out of the CUV/SUV’s. That’s where the highest profit margin is, and we all know the bean counters run the company with Mary following blindly. Not everybody wants a CUV/SUV or a mall crawler pickup. We want large luxury sedans that will actually seat 4 full-sized adults comfortably.
John M Engelman
I couldn’t have said it better. Many of us want a large, Luxury Sedan, Coupe, or Convertible.