For the ultra wealthy and A-listers pining for an ultra green saloon from the finest purveyor of automobiles, Rolls-Royce, the wait has been about a decade since the famed brand started mulling modern electrification.
The brand is long synonymous with W12 motors that hum along like a mobile bank vault.
But Henry Royce, one of the first electrical engineers, and Charles Rolls, also had profound obsessions with all things electric years before they hatched a famed car company in 1906.
Royce’s first company, F.H. Royce & Co, founded in 1884, initially made small electrical appliances such as doorbells, lamps, fuses and switches. Business boomed, and Royce was soon producing larger, more complex things that included dynamos, electric motors and winches. In 1902, Royce supplied electric motors for Pritchett & Gold, a London battery maker that had diversified into producing electric cars.
Rolls, while an engineering student at Cambridge in the late 1890s, acquired his only electric-powered car, an American-made vehicle called The Columbia Electric Carriage, imported to the U.K. by Paris Singer, an heir to the sewing machine dynasty.
The Columbia’s electric drive was “perfectly noiseless and clean,” Rolls declared. “There is no smell or vibration, and they should become very useful when fixed charging stations can be arranged.”
Fast forward to 2023, and behold the Spectre, the first EV from Rolls-Royce.
It fills the hole left by the discontinued Wraith coupe in the brand’s lineup and uses the same aluminum ‘architecture of luxury’ that underpins the most recent Rolls-Royce models. The architecture was developed by Rolls-Royce to accept an electric drivetrain, but “it is only now that electric drive technology is advanced enough to fulfill the Rolls-Royce experience,” the brand said.
It is equipped with front and rear electric motors, providing 190 kW of power to the front axle and 360 kW to the rear and allowing for all-wheel drive. The two motors produce a combined 584 hp and 664 pound-feet of torque. It clocks 0 to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds.
Spectre owners are probably more likely to drive it than be chauffeured, so there are some more pertinent specs to be aware of. The EPA-estimated range for the 102-kilowatt-hour battery is 260 to 264 miles. The standard Rolls-Royce owner, typically with other cars, planes and boats to choose from, clocks, on average, 3,200 miles on an odometer a year, the company said.
Maximum DC fast-charging speed is 195 kW, which gets current battery life from 10 to 80 percent in 34 minutes. And Rolls-Royce notes that the battery is “made using cobalt and lithium from strictly controlled sources in Australia, Morocco and Argentina: The battery cells are produced using 100 percent green electricity.”
Aerodynamics have been optimized to achieve a drag-coefficient of 0.25, making it the most sleek model Rolls-Royce has produced.
Journalists have now spent some time behind the Spectre’s wheel and inside the lavish, custom interior of some early models. Deliveries begin in late 2023. We’ve collected some early reviews and feedback from select media.
“That all electric vehicles are inherently and equally silent is as incorrect as it is oft repeated. While it’s true that electric motors tend to generate far less noise than internal-combustion engines, especially under high loads, that’s only one of the three primary sources of racket. As for the other two — noise propagating up from the road and the vehicle slicing through the surrounding air — EVs have no particular advantage.
But the Spectre is so silent that to experience it is to ruin every other vehicle, including the rest of the Rolls lineup. At 80 to 90 mph, the slightest ripple of wind starts to nip at the Spectre’s side glass. But compared with a ride the next day in a Cullinan SUV, one of the quietest vehicles we’ve ever measured (62 decibels at a 70-mph cruise), the Spectre is so much quieter that we thought one of the Cullinan’s windows might be slightly open.
The company’s first EV is about far more than just a lack of noise, however. Its tires roll so frictionlessly over smooth roads that you could believe you’re hovering over the road, although sharp impacts ground those thoughts and serve as a reminder of the weight of the 23-inch wheels and 32-inch-tall Pirelli P Zero PZ4 Elect tires. The rolling smoothness is why we think the Spectre should have a coasting mode, which would continue the otherworldly feeling of effortlessness. Instead, there’s a modest amount of default regen, with a B button on the spindly column shifter to increase regenerative braking to the point that it will bring the car to a stop without a touch of the brake pedal, which is a bit long of travel in an attempt to guarantee smoothness. Other than that, the Spectre has no selectable drive-mode settings, an approach we wholeheartedly agree with — offer a single excellent tune without giving drivers numerous ways to screw it up. For the same reason, there are no audio settings. The only other choice relating to the powertrain is a Rolls-Royce noise that scales with motor output; it sounds like an ominous futuristic storm that’s a considerable distance away. With it off (our preference), the motors are perfectly silent. They’re also plenty strong, although acceleration isn’t bonkers by today’s EV standards. Still, a rush to 60 mph in the low-four-second range roughly matches the performance of the brand’s V-12 models.
— Dave VanderWerp, Car and Driver
“Rolls-Royce kept stating that the Spectre is a Rolls-Royce first and a BEV second. And that’s truth, not marketing babble. Still, it comes as no surprise, as a BEV’s instant torque, silent driveline, and lack of gear shifting produce the requisite smooth, silent personality. Power delivery is strong but linear, reaching 60 mph in 4.4 seconds. So you won’t get the neck-snapping torque of some BEVs, but it’s perfectly in keeping with the Spectre’s demeanor.
The car uses an updated version of the Ghost’s Planar Suspension System, which decouples the Spectre’s anti-roll bars, which allows each wheel to act independently, preventing side-to-side rocking while delivering the plush ride you’d expect from Rolls-Royce.
But cornering causes the anti-roll bars to recouple, while the dampers stiffen and the four-wheel steering to activate. It makes this large coupe remarkably agile as well as comfortable, endowing it with a balance that’s rarified.
And the hallmarks of driving a Rolls-Royce remain intact, such as the delicately thin steering wheel, and the power reserve gauge, which shows how much power you have left.”
— Larry Printz, The Detroit Bureau
“At speed, the driving dynamics are surprisingly agile for a vehicle that outweighs the Cullinan SUV by more than 300 pounds. Credit that to the rear-wheel steering and the improvements made to the aluminum space-frame chassis and digitally controlled suspension system, both of which came from the Ghost. The ‘architecture of Luxury’ platform now incorporates the nearly 1,543-pound, 102 kWh battery as a structural component along with extruded-aluminum supports that help increase torsional rigidity by 30 percent over the four-door sedan.
With that additional bolstering, plus a 126.4-inch wheelbase and 23-inch wheels wrapped in Pirelli P Zero rubber, the car feels reassuringly planted even when snaking through the roads around Lake Berryessa, in California’s Napa Valley. The steering is a mix of the familiar and the new: retaining the classic smoothness of a Rolls-Royce, but quicker than expected. Which is not to say that canyon-carving is the model’s forte— the car is nearly 18 feet long and almost 7 feet wide, after all — but the coupe can dance when asked.”
— Viju Mathew, Robb Report
An old friend
“This enormous and exquisite four-seater has been haunting the company’s imagination for more than a century. In 1900, Charles Rolls observed that electric propulsion had many advantages over internal combustion — no smoke, smell, noise or engine vibration. Electric cars ‘should become very useful when fixed charging stations can be arranged,’ the eventual co-founder said. In the breach, Rolls-Royce’s gas-burners have aspired to the same lubricity, effortless power and solemn hush, as if they were electric.
Which brings us to the first of many paradoxes. Because Rolls-Royce has spent a century striving to deliver an electric-like experience — the gnostic-sounding waftability included — the real thing feels strangely familiar, like meeting an old friend with a new bionic heart.
In fact, in many corners of the car you can sense a sort of consummation, places where the technology finally delivers on a century of overblown rhetoric. Consider, please, the problem of constraining ambient cabin noise. One of Rolls’ marketing koans is ‘Silence is luxury.’ Well, no engine = no engine noise. Moreover, as director of engineering Mihiar Ayoubi noted without batting an eye, a 1,549-pound battery pack makes for an excellent sound-deadening ‘mass damper.’ I bet it does
While electrification suits the brand well, there was some tension, if you’ll pardon the pun. The ‘not-a-drop-of Champagne’ test, for example: This standard defines the supple and linear acceleration expected of all Rolls-Royces, such that owners should never spill a drop — and we’re not talking flutes here but the sloshy coupe glasses. If the car were allowed to deliver full torque from a standstill people would be getting those glasses stuck in their throats. Thanks to some gradualizing algorithms in the motor-control programming, the Spectre’s initial acceleration (4.4 seconds to 60 mph) is notably nontraumatic.”
— Dan Neil, The Wall Street Journal
“‘Waft’ is a word Rolls-Royce should probably trademark, even if it is tough to describe in relation to acceleration. In a V12-powered Rolls-Royce, like the Cullinan, wide-open throttle yields processional, but immense, acceleration, like a gentle song that builds predictably to an all-consuming crescendo. Capturing that sensation with two electric motors that produce 584 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque is no small feat. But Rolls-Royce manages it with the Spectre – even as the speeds climb, the power arrives gently and the suspension is so beautifully tuned that feeling the 6,300 pounds shift rearward is difficult.
Rolls-Royce–worthy acceleration wasn’t the only goal. The Spectre needed to stop like a car with the Spirit of Ecstasy on the nose, and for that reason, there is no one-pedal driving mode and only a very modest level of regeneration available on startup. A ‘B’ button on the gear selector stalk ups the regen, but even relative to the BMWs it’s related to, the Spectre’s regen experience isn’t nearly so configurable.
Instead, Rolls-Royce focused on a brake pedal that will feel familiar to owners. There’s plenty of travel and nary a hint of grabbiness. Every braking experience, from gentle ‘champagne stops’ – where a passenger wouldn’t spill a drop of bubbly – to emergency slow-downs was predictable and easy. In fact, I rarely used the ‘B’ mode to kick up the regen. The brake pedal is that satisfying to use.
The other major benefit of electrification for an ultra-luxury brand like Rolls-Royce is the total lack of sound from the twin motors. One would think, then, that Dr. Ayoubi and his team would shun artificial acceleration sounds like an aristocrat turning their nose up at the unwashed masses. But no, even Rolls gets in on the fake sound game.”
— Brandon Turkus, InsideEVs
“At nearly five feet long, the Spectre’s rear-hinged doors open with theatrical splendor. Since practically every Spectre will be built to its buyer’s whimsy, there’s no ho-hum ‘standard’ interior anyone is likely to actually buy. Instead the seats, dash and starry headliner are easels upon which creativity can be indulged. The car sampled during the press event, for instance, was done up in stark black and white with a definite orca vibe. Other early production vehicles had themes evocative of orchids, British racing cars of the 1930s and, apparently, Barney the dinosaur.
Yes, there are umbrellas in the door jambs. Big ones too.
The doors are so long that a supplementary latch has been added for support. Also, the driver’s door will now automatically close when the brake pedal is depressed. That eliminates the risk and drudgery of pressing a button which can result in a scratch manicure or worse.
Whatever the color scheme or stitching, the comfort is astonishing. There is seating for four and none of the individual thrones feels severely compromised. It’s better up front, but riding in the rear isn’t a banishment or punishing. Of course, the seats are perfectly shaped, the upholstery is exquisite, and the headliners star field can be configured to represent, say, the constellations as they appeared on the night your akita delivered her first litter of pups. It’s not so much a driving environment as it is a luxury capsule.
And that’s why the interior deserves criticism. The problem with capsules is that they can be confining. The Spectre’s beltline is high, the windshield and rear window are both severely raked, and the seating positions are low. So, the feeling is one of being encased by rather than inside of the car. Even though this is a roomy, pillarless coupe design, there’s no airiness here. Either one likes this sort of bunkered in feeling, or one goes and gets something else. Like another open plan beach house in Malibu. Or a three-masted sailing yacht.”
— John Pearley Huffman, Road & Track
“Inside is a veritable sea of leather and craftsmanship. The deep-pile carpets are better, and deeper, than any boutique hotel you’ll ever frequent. The Spectre boasts the brand’s ‘starlight’ headlining inside, but now this cascades down to the doors as well. It’s bling of a subtle kind, and definitely theater with 4,800 individual light sources. But considering the playground that LED lighting has given car companies, one wonders if more could have been done with such a system. Rolling night skies or familiar constellations for owners? Customizable patterns
Rolls-Royce likes to decide what’s best for its drivers, though. There’s no switchable driving modes beyond the one set by Rolls, for example. You do get one button for turning breaking regen on or off, however, and it allows one-pedal driving, should you feel so inclined. Speaking of switchgear, there are plenty of buttons and dedicated knobs, so fishing about in the UI to locate the wing mirror settings won’t be an issue. It’s a good thing, too, because Rolls owners don’t even want to struggle to open a door — there’s a button for that as well.
The stereo, Rolls’s own proprietary audio system, is phenomenal. The best I have heard in some years, in fact, with every frequency meticulously attended to. Nothing is lost, with wide soundscapes given space to soar.”
— Jeremy White, Wired