The Electric Rolls-Royce Spectre Has A Range Of 323 Miles, Due Q4 2023

Rolls-Royce has revealed its first electric car. Called Spectre, it takes the form of a two-door, four-seat coupe not dissimilar to the company’s Wraith and Phantom Coupé of old, but with an electric motor in place of the company’s longstanding V12 engine.

Revealed at the company’s home in Goodwood, southern England today, the Spectre “demonstrates how perfectly Rolls-Royce is suited to electrification,” the firm said.

More than an electrified version of an existing car, the Spectre uses the company’s all-aluminum ‘Architecture of Luxury’ platform, with new ‘Spirit’ software architecture and integration with the company’s existing digital services and smartphone app, called Whispers.

Rolls-Royce says the first customer cars will be delivered during the fourth quarter of 2023, and that pricing will be somewhere between the circa-$350,000 Cullinan and circa-$450,000 Phantom; the order books are open now. Spectre will be followed by more electric cars, and Rolls says its entire range will be battery-powered by 2030.

The Spectre borrows design inspiration from concept yachts, modernist sculpture, tailoring and contemporary art, Rolls-Royce says, adding how the car has “indulgent proportions”. To that end, the two-door, four-seater is 5453mm (214.7 inches) long, 2080mm (81.9in) wide and has a kerb weight of 2,975kg (6,558 lbs).

Rolls-Royce says the Spectre is 30 percent stiffer than any of its previous cars, thanks to extruded aluminum sections and the integration of the battery pack – a component the company also describes as doubling as 700kg of sound deadening.

To handle all of that extra weight – this will be a car weighing over three tonnes with a driver and passenger onboard – Rolls-Royce has reworked its Planar suspension system, which decouples the car’s anti-roll bars, allowing each wheel to act independently.

Rolls explains: “Once a corner is identified as imminent, the Planar system re-couples the components and stiffens the dampers, the four-wheel steering system is then prepared for activation to ensure effortless entry and exit. Under cornering, 18 sensors are monitored, and steering, braking, power delivery and suspension parameters are adjusted so that Spectre remains stable.”

Whereas many electric cars do away with a front grille almost entirely, due to the lack of cooling required compared to internal combustion vehicles, Rolls-Royce has gone the other way. The Spectre’s grille is the widest ever fitted to a Rolls-Royce, with its vanes now smoother in section and with a flusher fit in a bid to improve aerodynamics, and therefore range. The car has a drag coefficient of 0.25, making it the most aerodynamic Rolls-Royce ever, partly thanks to a redesigned Spirit of Ecstasy hood mascot, which sits lower and in a more dynamic pose, with one leg in front of the other.

Rolls hasn’t said exactly what the Spectre’s range will be, but instead says: “The final power, acceleration and range figures are still being refined…Preliminary data shows that Spectre is expected to have an all-electric range of 320 miles /520 kilometres WLTP and offer 900Nm of torque from its 430kW [576 horsepower] powertrain. It is anticipated to achieve 0-60mph in 4.4 seconds (0-100km/h in 4.5 seconds).”

More specifically, the company states a range of 323 miles and a consumption of 2.9 miles per kWh, meaning the battery capacity should be in the region of 111 kWh. Rolls hasn’t yet said if the car uses a 400 or 800-volt system, or what its maximum charge rate will be.

Inside, the Spectre is the first production Rolls-Royce to have optional Starlight Doors, where 5,876 LED bulbs look like softly illuminated stars, matching those in the headlining. The doors can also be optioned with wood panelling, and house the company’s signature pop-out umbrellas.

More LED stars are found in the dashboard, where the Spectre nameplate on the passenger side is surrounded by a cluster of over 5,500 lights.

All-new front seats are inspired by British tailoring, Rolls-Royce says, and the company boasts of how the Spectre is offered with “near-infinite” possibilities from its bespoke commissions department. The order books are open now.