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Rolls-Royce and EV: a match made in heaven

Pleasant combinations, you can come up with several. Cheese with apple syrup, sweet combine with salt, a tuxedo with matching tie or a strawberry with chocolate. Also, Rolls-Royce and an electric powertrain is a match made in heaven. Why? Simple, Rolls-Royce is committed to making the most comfortable and quiet cars in the world. An electric powertrain then offers a solution. For this reason, the Rolls-Royce Spectre is a car that marks a new era for this British car brand.

Ultra-Luxury Electric Super Coupe

The Rolls-Royce Spectre is the brand’s first all-electric car. This so-called “Ultra-Luxury Electric Super Coupe” is the spiritual successor to the Phantom Coupe. The Spectre can be reserved immediately, but deliveries to customers will not begin until the fourth quarter of 2023. The Spectre’s price is between the Cullinan and Phantom. So count on 500,000 euros or more anyway. But then you get something, just read along!

Charles Stewart Rolls once said.

First, a quote from Charles Stewart Rolls, Co-Founder of Rolls-Royce. He said the following in 1900: “The electric car is perfectly silent and clean. There is no smell and there are no vibrations. If there were fixed charging points, it would be a very useful means of transportation.”

A solid 122 years later, Rolls-Royce takes an electric car into production. Indeed, Rolls-Royce confirms that by the year 2030 its entire model portfolio will be all-electric. The Spectre kicks off now.

Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, said, “The Spectre possesses all the qualities that characterize the legend that is Rolls-Royce. Designed from the outset as our first all-electric model, this amazing automobile is quiet, powerful and demonstrates how perfectly electric propulsion fits Rolls-Royce. The Spectre’s electric powertrain guarantees the brand’s uninterrupted success and reinforces the definition of each of the characteristics that make a Rolls-Royce a Rolls-Royce. It is the start of a new chapter for the brand and for our valued customers.”

Low air resistance

You wouldn’t say it, but this 2,975-kilogram (including 700 kilograms of battery) and 5,453 mm long behemoth is quite efficient. At the front, the Spectre’s split headlights are interrupted by the widest grille ever applied to a Rolls-Royce. The slats of the Pantheon grille lie flatter overall and close more closely, designed to direct air along the front of the car. Together with the streamlined Spirit of Ecstasy sculpture – the result of 830 hours of modeling and testing in the wind tunnel – the grille lowers the car’s drag, which, with a Cw value of 0.25, makes the Spectre the most streamlined Rolls-Royce ever.

Grille dimly lit

To make the Spectre recognizable even in the dark, the grille is dimly lit by 22 LED lights that illuminate the rear of the slats, providing a subtle, three-dimensional appearance through reflection in the polished front. The Spectre is further the first two-door coupe in production in a hundred years to be equipped with 23-inch wheels. 

Spectre is a fastback

The most striking feature of the Spectre’s silhouette is its fastback, reminiscent of the most impressive cars and yachts in history. At the end of the roofline, the taillights are surrounded by the largest one-piece body section ever used for a Rolls-Royce, which begins at the A-pillar and continues into the luggage compartment. The vertical taillights, which resemble jewels, are colorless and can be done in numerous colors during the personalization process, as desired by the new owner.

Starlight Doors

Inside, the Spectre features the most advanced customization options to date. We know about the starlight by now, but the Spectre is also the first Rolls-Royce with Starlight Doors. This novelty features 5,876 softly lit “stars. Coach doors can also be provided with a background in Canadel paneled wood. The name of this comes from the bay in southern France where Sir Henry Royce and his design team stayed during the winter.

Illuminated Fascia

The nighttime theme is also reflected in the Spectre’s Illuminated Fascia. It took more than 10,000 man hours and two years to develop, but then you have a Spectre nameplate surrounded by 5,500 stars. The panel sits on the passenger side of the car and is completely invisible when the car is not in use.

Aluminum Rolls-Royce Architecture of Luxury

The Spectre is built around the all-aluminum Rolls-Royce Architecture of Luxury. The aluminum parts and the integration of the battery pack into the car’s structure make it 30 percent stiffer than any previous Rolls-Royce. Moreover, the floor is placed halfway up the sill rather than above or below it. Space was made between the batteries and the floor for the cabling and piping of the air conditioning system. Because the battery is underneath, the floor is perfectly level. This not only provides a low seating position and more interior space, but also gives the battery a second function: nearly 700 kilograms of sound dampening.

Smart Rolls

The Spectre is the most connected Rolls-Royce in history. Handwritten protocols have been developed for all 141,200 variables that occur between transmitters and receivers in the car. In almost all cases, engineers designed sub-variables in terms of climate, speed, road surface type, vehicle status and driving style. All these protocols were devised during the 2.5 million kilometers of testing. This was done both in advanced test environments and on public roads around the world.

Powertrain Rolls-Royce Spectre

The Rolls-Royce Spectre’s final statement of power, acceleration and range has yet to be given. All figures will follow when the finalization and fine-tuning of the Spectre is completed in the second quarter of 2023. The preliminary figures: an electric range of 520 kilometers (WLTP), 900 Nm of pulling power and a 430 kW (585 hp) powertrain. Acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h is expected to take 4.5 seconds.

The Spectre is expected to take on the BMW i7’s largest battery: one with a capacity of 105 kWh. Why we think so? BMW and Rolls-Royce working together. In addition, Rolls-Royce communicates an average power consumption of 21.5 kWh. With an expected range of 520 kilometers, you end up with over 100 kWh of battery capacity anyway.