Test drive with the luxurious all-electric Rolls-Royce Spectre

End of last year we already had the opportunity to have a look at Rolls-Royce first all-electric car – the Rolls-Royce Spectre paving the brand’s way to an electrified future. Now we got the chance to test drive the Spectre in the beautiful surroundings of Napa Valley, California.

Charles Rolls, the co-founder of Rolls-Royce, predicted an electric future way back in 1900. He envisioned a world powered by clean, silent motors. And now, 120 years later, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has made that dream a reality with the Spectre. It shows how perfectly the brand is set up for electrification.

The Rolls-Royce Spectre is the world’s first ultra-luxury electric super coupé. It has not been altered or diminished in any way due to its electric powertrain – rather, interior space, comfort, performance and ride quality have all been refined and improved thanks to the car's underlying architecture and engineering. The Spectre is an eye-catching two-door fastback that follows in the footsteps of the legendary Phantom Coupé. Its cozy cabin offers up plenty of customisation opportunities through Bespoke, while unique illuminated accents and the first Starlight Doors ever featured on a production Rolls-Royce add an extra sparkle.

For over 120 years, Rolls-Royce has been crafting unique creations to suit the needs of everyone from royalty and diplomats to modern entrepreneurs. Now, a new generation of customers are joining the brand in its latest era, and the Rolls-Royce Spectre is the car it has envisioned since 1900.

Exterior design

The design of the Rolls-Royce Spectre draws inspiration from a variety of sources, including haute couture, modernist sculptures, maritime designs, tailoring and contemporary art. Specifically, the lines and reflections that are so prominent in contemporary racing yachts have been invoked in this design. The Spectre is simply majestic from all angles – five and half meters long and two meters wide. It's sculptural design is made up of three main strokes – the shoulder, the waist and the "waft line".

The Pantheon grille on the Spectre is the widest of its kind that can ever be found on a Rolls-Royce. Its polished stainless-steel vanes are even and flush, giving off a soft light shone by 22 LED lights that enhance the three-dimensional look when night falls.

The Spirit of Ecstasy figurine was crafted especially for this model. It has a lower, sleeker posture that took 830 hours of designing and testing in wind tunnels to get to, all to make sure the drag coefficient was at an impressive 0.25cd, making the Spectre the most aerodynamic Rolls-Royce ever built.

The Spectre is in a class of its own, boasting the largest ever 23-inch rims being on a production Rolls-Royce two-door coupé. Additionally, their signature Coach Doors on the Spectre are the largest laser-welded pillarless ones ever fitted to a Rolls-Royce, measuring almost 1.5 metres long. The doors are made from 100% aluminium for lightweight rigidity and strength, and feature an updated version of the Effortless Doors power-assisted system first developed on Ghost models. Ease of use is further enhanced by a comfort position opening and closing capability regardless of hill or driveway angles, as well as automatic closing when the driver presses the brake pedal.

Interior design

If you've ridden in a Rolls-Royce motor cars before, the interior will be familiar – luxurious, elegant, comfortable. The inside of the Spectre is equipped with a multitude of advanced Bespoke features, with Starlight Doors being one of its main attractions. This unique feature consists of 4.796 softly glowing 'stars'. Alternatively, customers can opt for Canadel panelling crafted out of luxurious wood as a background for the door. The theme continues on the fascia where the Spectre nameplate is surrounded by a cluster of over 5.500 stars, found on the passenger side of the dashboard. It cannot be seen when the car is not powered on.

A Rolls-Royce is a work of art, hand-made to order exclusively for you. And so is the Rolls-Royce Spectre. The interior suite offers clients near-infinite Bespoke possibilities. The all-new front seat design has been inspired by British tailoring, with lapel sections that can be rendered in contrasting or matching colours to the main base. Custom stitching, embroidery and intricate piping have been incorporated into the design as always.

The magnificence of the night sky is mirrored in the car's interior. The dashboard is made of beautiful wood paneling, while intricate buttons and knobs stand out against the polished metal accents. There is almost no limit to how much a customer can personalise their Rolls-Royce vehicle.

The Spectre is unprecedentedly well-connected, equipped with three times as many sender-receiver signals as any of its preceding models. SPIRIT is a newly-designed digital system that brings the Spectre driver closer to their vehicle than ever before. It isn't only in charge of the car's operations, but it is also seamlessly connected to the marque’s Whispers app. Clients now have the opportunity to extend their Bespoke commission into the digital world, such as choosing the colour of instrument dials which coordinates with either the car’s interior or the outside finish.

Performance

The Spectre was designed to be a Rolls-Royce first, and an electric car second. It offers such a unique experience – with instantaneous power and an incredibly smooth ride with its electric power train. The front and rear electric motors produce 550kW and 1.075Nm of torque that catapult it from 0 to 100 km/h in just 4.5 seconds. With the Rolls-Royce Spectre, you can travel up to 530 km on one full charge, with regenerative braking adding back extra kilometres when single-pedal driving is activated. Charging up the battery from 10 to 80% only takes a mere 34 minutes when using a 195kW (DC) fast charger.

Driving the Rolls-Royce Spectre is an unbelievable great and unique experience. This first ultra-luxury electric super coupé offers maximum comfort, utmost style in interior and exterior as well as high performance and ride quality. As said before, it is obvious that the Spectre was created to be a Rolls-Royce first, and secondly as an electric vehicle. This car is exceptional and pushes boundaries of what is possible in terms of electrification, design, innovation while not forgetting its tradition. With the Spectre, Rolls-Royce is definitely leading the way in the luxurious, electric world. By 2030 Rolls-Royce entire product portfolio will be fully electric.

Pictures: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars for ellectric