Rolls-Royce enters the EV era with this Spectre coupe. Jonathan Crouch takes a look

Ten Second Review

The Spectre takes Rolls-Royce into a new fully electric era. This huge four-door coupe has been tested over one and a half million miles to deliver a fittingly opulent interpretation of full battery motion for the world's moneyed elite. Excess combines with efficiency to provide a rather unique end result.

Background

There isn't anything more logical than an electric Rolls-Royce. Founder Henry Royce trained as an electrical engineer and when at Cambridge, owned an electric car, a US-built Colombia Electric Carriage, a genre of automobile that back in 1900 he predicted would be 'very useful when fixed charging stations can be arranged'. We're still battling with that issue, but the time is long past for Rolls-Royce to be offering an EV. The company's dabbled with the idea for decades, back in 2011 producing a one-off electric Phantom called the 120EX to test reaction from customers. Who turned it down on account of its Tesla-derived powerplant's feeble range, slow charging and restricted battery life.

So Rolls-Royce has spent the last decade working on something better, aided by the might of its BMW parent - and this is it, the Spectre, unveiled at the end of 2022. A four-seat two-door coupe, it introduces an extended aluminium spaceframe platform that will underpin all the forthcoming new EVs from the company as it moves towards positioning as an electric-only brand by 2030. That's quite a change but the Spectre, we're promised, is full of recognisable brand DNA. Let's see just how much.

Driving Experience

The car has a huge battery around 106kWh in size and more than necessary to preserve a halfway-acceptable range (estimated at 320 miles), given that kerb weight is just shy of 3-tonnes. There's an electric motor on each axle of course, hence the nominal AWD system, and a combined output of 577bhp and 900Nm of torque: think 62mph in 4.5s on the way to 155mph.

As you'd expect, progress is almost silent - but doesn't have to be. A selectable artificial sound is available and even if you don't activate it, sound levels are tuned for what the brand calls 'the right kind of silence'. Surprisingly, there are no driving modes: only a 'B' heightened brake regeneration setting to maximise off-throttle energy harvesting. That enables 'one pedal' driving in most circumstances.

Rolls-Royce is particularly proud of the Spectre's digitally integrated evolution of the brand's Planar suspension set-up. This is an orchestra of systems with precisely defined responses to driver inputs and road conditions, delivering Rolls-Royce's hallmark 'magic carpet ride'.

Design and Build

This is the sleekest Rolls-Royce ever (the drag coefficient is just 0.25Cd); it's also the stiffest (by 30%), aided by the integration of the huge battery into the structure (which makes this the heaviest model in the history of the brand, at 2,975kg). It also has the widest front grille ever, topped by a new more aerodynamic Spirit of Ecstasy mascot. The standard wheels have enormous 23-inch rims.

When it's time to take a seat inside, a huge 1.5-metre rear-hinged door (the biggest ever fitted to a Rolls-Royce) opens automatically to admit you. There's no huge centre screen; just a restrained and neatly integrated infotainment display complemented by the expected digital instrument cluster. You sit quite high and thanks to the long 3,210mm wheelbase, there's reasonable space for a couple of adults in the back. Front or rear, the expected cosseting environment prevails, full of soft leathers and immaculately veneered wood.

Market and Model

As we compiled this Review, an official Spectre asking price had yet to be announced but industry experts were anticipating it being around the £350,000 mark. Lots of little incorporated details may well make wealthy buyers feel better about that kind of outlay. To affirm the Spectre's expression after dark, the grille is softly illuminated, with 22 LEDs lighting up the sandblasted rear side of each of the vanes, their gentle glow reflected in the polished front surfaces for a subtle and three-dimensional night signature.

For the first time on a series production Rolls-Royce, the Spectre is available with 'Starlight Doors', which incorporate 4,796 softly illuminated 'stars'. The coach doors can also be commissioned with a backdrop of wood Canadel Panelling, which takes its name from the cove in the South of France where Sir Henry Royce and his design team spent their winters.

The ethereal night-time theme continues with the Spectre's Illuminated Fascia. Developed over the course of two years and more than 10,000 collective hours, it incorporates the Spectre nameplate surrounded by a cluster of over 5,500 stars.

As with all Rolls-Royces, the Spectre's interior 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. Bespoke stitching, embroidery and intricate piping has, as ever, been considered in their inception.

Cost of Ownership

We gave you the battery range figure in our driving section - 320 miles, based on a claimed consumption figure of 2.9 miles per kWh, but you'll need to almost always engage the provided 'B' brake regen function and drive conservatively to get anywhere near that. The Spectre's drivetrain and its electrical architecture form what the brand calls the car's 'backbone', enabling over a 100 complex sub-systems to be integrated with each other and cope with over 140,000 send-and-receive functions.

BMW hasn't embraced an 800V electrical architecture for its EVs, so Rolls-Royce hasn't either, which means the Spectre won't be able to use the new generation of ultra-fast rapid public chargers that's currently springing up across Europe. At rapid chargers you can use, you won't be expecting the Spectre's enormous 106kWh battery to be quick to charge and it isn't. Charging happens at 195KW and a 0-80% charge using a rapid charger can be done in approximately 35 minutes.

Summary

The claim for the Spectre is that it's 'a Rolls-Royce first and an EV second' and we think most customers will concur with that. The marque says it has 'a unique heritage in electric power' that pre-dates the founding of the company itself, but it hasn't rushed to bring a more modern interpretation of full-battery motion to market. The result though, has been worth the wait.

FACTS AT A GLANCE

CAR: Rolls-Royce Spectre

PRICE: £350,000 {est}

CATEGORY: FULL-ELECTRIC – LUXURY / COUPE-LARGE

INSURANCE GROUP: 50

PERFORMANCE: 0-60mph 4.5s / Max Speed 155mph

WLTP DRIVING RANGE: 320 miles {est}

BOOT CAPACITY: [litres] TBC

WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: length/width/height 5453/2080/1559 mm