Rolls Royce have unveiled the Spectre for the world which will be their first fully electric offering as the company pledges to go full EV by the end of the decade. Believe it or not, Rolls Royce’s founding father had already envisioned an electric future for the motorcar over a century ago! In 1900, Rolls-Royce co-founder, Charles Rolls, prophesised an electric future for the motor car. Having acquired an electric vehicle named The Columbia Electric Carriage, he foresaw its suitability as a clean, noiseless alternative to the internal combustion engine – providing there was sufficient infrastructure to support it. Today, more than 120 years later, the time has come for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars to fulfil the prophecy of its founding father. Hence, the prophecy has now been fulfilled.
Design
Based on Rolls’ all aluminium architecture of luxury, the Spectre is more than just an electrified and modernized version of the Wraith. The Wraith was already quite ahead in terms of incorporating timeless design with future ready technology. The Spectre takes it even further. The Rolls Royce Spectre gives us an idea into what a truly luxurious, minimal and elegant EV should look like. It is the pinnacle of Rolls’ standards in terms of quality, finish and design in itself. I truly believe Rolls Royce said it perfectly when they stated “Spectre possesses all the qualities that have secured the Rolls-Royce legend. This incredible motor car, conceived from the very beginning as our first fully-electric model, is silent, powerful and demonstrates how perfectly Rolls-Royce is suited to electrification. Spectre’s all-electric powertrain will assure the marque’s sustained success and relevance while dramatically increasing the definition of each characteristic that makes a Rolls-Royce a Rolls-Royce.”
The front headlights could remind you of the brand new 7-series and i7 from BMW and the grille is also the new subtly lit grille with 22 LEDs lighting up the sandblasted rear of the vanes. The taillights are also very special with such an extreme level of attention to detail that even Lexus would feel the need to appreciate it. All of this combined gives this massive art on wheels a presence of its own. As if Rolls needed much of it. The overall coupe and sloping roofline is much more relaxed than its other competitors and definitely seems like a comfortable place from the inside if you want your kids on your luxurious yacht for the road. This is also one of the most aerodynamically designed Rolls Royces on the road and the 830 combined hours of design modelling and wind tunnel testing definitely were worth it giving out a drag coefficient of just 0.25cd which makes it the most aerodynamic Rolls ever!
Coming over to the interiors and this is exactly why the ones sitting inside would never envy the ones looking at it from the outside. The starlight roof now extends to the door panels and even on the dashboard right in front of the passenger seat where we usually see an art gallery of some sort in every other Rolls. It is breathtaking to look at and the way that Rolls Royce have incorporated the infotainment and driver digital displays into the traditional design of a Rolls is the very reason why Rolls is unique. Check it out on your own:
Power and mechanicals
It isn’t as if an existing Rolls wasn’t eerily quiet, this one being electric takes it a level or two above even that. The final power, acceleration and range figures are still being refined, as the Spectre enters its final phase before concluding in the second quarter of 2023. Preliminary data shows that Spectre is expected to have an all-electric range of 320 miles/520 kilometres WLTP and offer 900Nm of torque from its 430kW powertrain. It is anticipated to achieve 0-60mph in 4.4 seconds (0-100km/h in 4.5 seconds). Of course a Rolls isn’t about speed but the way it gets to speed but this one does seem a bit more than just gliding over the road. The Spectre will officially be out by 2023 and pricing will be unveiled then only. But, if I had to take a guess, I’d say somewhere in the range of $225,000 – $250000.
