Rolls Royce introduces its first all-electric car, Spectre

Rolls Royce Spectre: The First EV in the RR's lineup

image is taken from autotechportal.com

Six years before founding the gasoline-powered Rolls Royce Motor Cars company with Henry Royce, Charles Stewart Rolls made this statement in the year 1900. With the corporation bearing the famous surnames of the two founders having recently launched its mission to offer only electrically propelled motorcars by the year 2030, Rolls foresaw a future that is likely to materialize starting right now.

The benefits of electric propulsion appear especially well suited to those touted by the company from its start, but they will never have been more fully realized than they will be in this situation—instant torque and nearly silent operation.

Although Rolls's Phantom-based electric concept vehicle, the 102EX, gained media attention in 2012, the Spectre, which goes into production later that year, benefits from a decade's worth of new technology and investment, and it shows.

Rolls Royce Spectre: Exterior

The Spectre's tall bonnet, sleek profile, and fastback tail give it a distinctive Rolls-Royce look. Even while it's easy to see how the design was influenced by the company's current vehicles, Rolls-Royce insists that contemporary yacht designs were the design's main sources of inspiration. The Spectre is even bigger than the four-door Mercedes EQS, with a length and breadth of 5.45 meters and over 2 meters, respectively.

The Spectre has the largest grille ever installed on a Rolls-Royce up front. The Spirit of Ecstasy has also been aero-tuned, and it boasts 22 LEDs for soothing nighttime illumination in addition to being engineered for greater aerodynamic efficiency.

The Spectre's bonnet swoops down to the grille, in contrast to the usual Rolls Royce's flat and upright front, giving it a drag coefficient of 0.25, according to the manufacturer, making it the most aerodynamic Rolls-Royce ever.

The split headlamp design, on the other hand, pays homage to the Phantom Coupe. The ultra-slim LED DRLs are high-mounted, with the primary headlamp cluster positioned below. These headlamps first appear gloomy but conceal darkened chrome housings that resemble jewelry boxes.

In profile, the Spectre is distinguished by three different lines: a prominent shoulder line, a gently sloping roofline, and a baseline known as the "waft line" that is directly influenced by yachts.

Aerodynamic efficiency at the rear is aided by the fastback tail in conjunction with the seamless glasshouse. The biggest single-body panel ever installed on a Rolls-Royce is in fact the fastback roof panel, which stretches from the A-pillar to the trunk.

Its vertical tail lamps include jewel-like details and come in a neutral color so that consumers can customize them to their tastes. The largest wheels ever installed on a two-door Rolls Royce coupe, the aero-optimized 23-inch wheels on the Spectre.

Rolls Royce Spectre: Interior and Comfort

The inside of the Spectre is similar to its exterior in that it does not deviate significantly from current Rolls-Royce models. In fact, it resembles the contemporary Ghost quite a bit. The starlight liner, which was previously only available on the roof, is now also incorporated in the door pads, which is something new. If not, wood paneling can be specified for the doors.

The Spectre also stands out for the way the 'Spectre' nameplate is lighted on the dashboard panel on the passenger side, encircled by a cluster of over 5,500 star-like illuminations. 

Additionally, all of its seats are brand-new, with the back ones being exquisitely incorporated into the interior body panels. Along with its luxurious stitching, embroidery, and elaborate piping, the interior of the Spectre is also highly customized, as is the case with other Rolls-Royce vehicles.

Although Rolls-new Royce's software platform, the "Spirit," is the center of attention inside the Spectre, it is not the only noteworthy feature. Up to this point, Rolls Royce vehicles employed infotainment systems derived from BWM.

In terms of linked car technology, Spirit is essentially the new digital interface that manages every aspect of the vehicle. With the Spirit software, Rolls-Royce is also providing bespoke services where even the color of the dials may be altered to match the interior.

Rolls Royce Spectre: Performance and Range

Rolls decided to use motive force statistics that are similar to those of one of its current V-12 battle cruisers rather than engage in the pointless horsepower wars that have recently captured the attention of several EV makers in keeping with the prevailing ethos of civility. 

The big coupe should reach 60 mph in 4.4 seconds thanks to its twin motors' combined 577 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque, which is plenty fast in our opinion—"sufficient," in Rolls Royce's delightfully vague former description—but not too fast to cause passenger nausea and driver blackouts during hard acceleration.

Significant regeneration while driving on one foot was deemed off-brand and unlikely to occur, although a high speed of 155 mph and an all-electric estimated EPA range of 260 miles are still anticipated. Once we drive it the next year, we'll know more.

Rolls Royce Spectre: Pricing

According to Rolls-Royce, the Spectre's basic price will fall between that of the Cullinan ($351,250) and the Phantom ($460,000); an estimate of $400,000 or so could be a safe bet.