Behind the wheel of the electric Rolls-Royce Specter

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Once upon a time, the idea of ​​a Rolls-Royce being powered by anything other than a V12 engine was ludicrous. “Take the best there is and make it better” has been the automaker’s mantra, and Rolls-Royce has so far been wary of going electric.

“When we first started experimenting with the 102EX in 2011, the electric battery technology and also charging were definitely not at levels that I or our customers would consider appropriate for a rolls royce”, explains CEO Torsten Müller-Otvös. But technology has improved and “now, here we are,” he says, pointing to the brand’s first electrified production car, the Spectre.

They have been interested in making sure the Specter remains a Rolls-Royce first and an electric car second.

Five and a half meters long, with an entry price of £330,000, the Specter is a car of epic proportions, especially for a two-door, four-seater coupe. Moving away from reinventing Rolls-Royce’s visual identity, the Specter is more of an evolution than a revolution when it comes to design. The elongated hood, rear-hinged economy doors, rugged surfaces and imposing upright front end remain dominant design cues, despite the substantial change under the aluminum body.

By positioning it as the spiritual successor to the 2008 Phantom Coupe, Rolls-Royce hopes the Specter will attract new buyers to the brand, as well as loyal customers. With North America being Rolls-Royce’s largest market, the Specter was launched in California’s sunny Napa Valley.

On Napa’s winding, tree-lined roads, Specter’s acceleration is majestic, not as sharp as so many others. electric cars. Rolls-Royce has intentionally added a slight throttle lag to achieve a smoother 0-60mph run, which takes 4.4 seconds. When cornering, it’s hard to ignore the car’s 2.9-ton weight. With a large battery on board and the typical Rolls-Royce array of heavy trim materials and interior amenities, the Specter is one of the heaviest cars on the market.

Given its mass, Rolls-Royce has done a good job of controlling all that weight in corners, with the Specter handling sharp turns much better than expected. Rolls-Royce refers to the car’s “flowability” and that’s exactly what it feels like to drive. The redesigned Spirit of Ecstasy, with lowered wings for greater aerodynamic efficiency, sits proudly on the hood as a handy center point marker. The car’s proportions are no problem on the wide roads of California, but on the narrow city streets and back roads of the UK, it can be difficult to drive.

Range-wise, its 102kWh battery is good for 329 WLTP miles (traveling at an average speed of 28.8mph). Expect shorter range actually: Like so many electric cars, everything from the weather outside to the car’s technology can affect range.

Inside, it’s a similar story to the rest of the Rolls-Royce models except for the glittering star-studded doors. Rolls pioneered the Starlight Headliner (a series of fiber-optic lights hidden in the roof of the car) in 2007, but Specter sees it replicated on the doors and in the rear cabin, with 4,796 lights. At night, it is an impressive spectacle. Up front is a digital dash display instead of analogue dials and the car’s digital architecture has been overhauled with a new software package called Spirit, making it the most connected Rolls-Royce to date. Part of that package gives customers the opportunity to customize the Art Deco-inspired look and design on the dash. The graphs are easy to read and refreshingly simple given that other EV manufacturers have chosen to mark up the data output.

The manufacturer has wanted to ensure that the Specter remains a Rolls-Royce first and an electric car second. While it certainly achieved that, it deflected the opportunity to revisit the definition of a super-luxury car in an all-electric age. Rolls-Royce’s closest rival, Bentley, will bring its first all-electric car to market in 2025. By launching Specter now, Rolls-Royce has reached the market first. A confident but shrewd move that sets the Specter up as the benchmark for other luxury EVs to come.