Test bench | Rolls-Royce Spectre: above the pile

(Napa Valley, California) More than 10 years after presenting its first electric concept, Rolls-Royce is reconnecting everything.

Silence is golden…

Who needs a Rolls-Royce? Basically, no one. However, this does not prevent the English brand from producing a few thousand per year. Its latest, the Spectre, transports its luxury in silence.

At Rolls-Royce, it is customary to say that what distinguishes the house from other luxury brands are three things: know-how, authenticity and quality of construction. Even electric, the Specter is no exception to the rule. The specifications that Torsten Muller-Otvos, president of the brand, imposes on his troops leaves no room for improvisation. “Regardless of the source of energy responsible for moving it, the Specter had above all to be a Rolls-Royce”, he recites like a mantra.

The message has been heard. The order, perfectly respected. The Specter is a Rolls-Royce, a real one. It has the presence, the opulence, the chic and, of course, the price. Each unit produced will, like all other Rolls-Royces, be designed with all the meticulousness in the world by craftsmen. The machine helps, but will never replace either the eye or the hand of these men and women who decorate these palaces on wheels with noble, precious and expensive materials…

A Rolls-Royce before being an electric vehicle. This precept is also echoed in the design of this extraordinary vehicle. Although the British firm insists that its entire production will switch to all-electric by 2030, it is not undertaking this transition from scratch.

In fact, the Specter adopts the platform from which all Rolls-Royces are made. In doing so, it does not really exploit any of the aesthetic “options” offered by the architecture of an electric vehicle.

It never occurred to the designers of the Specter to distribute the body volumes differently. Moreover, by its length, the hood gives the impression of housing a huge gasoline engine. Nor have they considered presenting a more enviable size/habitability ratio. Although they recognize that they could have ventured further, the timing was apparently bad. The plant can hardly assemble more than 6,000 vehicles per year (all models combined) and does not have the flexibility to juggle different platforms.

All is not lost. While the Specter doesn’t maximize all the benefits, it does get some. Thus, the modifications made to the chassis made it possible to stiffen it by 30%. They also made it possible to no longer use so many sound-absorbing materials. Rolls-Royce says it has eliminated some 700 kg. Luckily, otherwise the car would have weighed nearly 4 tons.

Keeper of tradition

The large antagonistic doors – the longest ever produced – open onto a passenger compartment that you decorate like your own home. When the Spectre was launched internationally, each of the seven units had been customized by the company’s Bespoke subsidiary. The services of the latter are retained by the vast majority of Rolls buyers, and it is not for fear that their vehicle resembles that of the neighbor. Purple, yellow, white, the range of leathers seems endless. Just like the color of the carpet, even thicker than a neglected lawn.

What does not change, however, is the spectacularly illuminated headlining with a thousand diodes. This almost pyrotechnic spectacle, much appreciated by customers, prompted its designers to cross out the sunroof from the list of accessories.

Apart from the instrumentation block, nothing suggests that this model uses a source of energy other than gasoline. We don’t find – and that’s good – a wall of “televisions” either. Rolls-Royce still uses physical controls.

On the other hand, the manufacturer has buried certain information very deeply in the screen of its infotainment system. This is particularly the case for the energy efficiency of its thrusters, to which we will return.

Plush, extremely comfortable, all the seats on board (yes, including the rear) invite you to travel. They better not be too long. The trunk volume might struggle to swallow all your luggage.

Calm and voluptuousness

Driving a Rolls-Royce, even electric, is nothing exceptional in itself, once you have tamed its dimensions and weight. This coupe does not provide the thrill of speed when accelerating, although it only takes 4.5 seconds to reach the maximum speed allowed on our expressways. The thrust of these two original BMW thrusters (one at the front and the other at the rear) is frank, of course, but is not intended to mess with anyone’s hair. You’ll only feel like this Rolls-Royce is hurrying without rushing.

At the wheel, the Specter spins quickly and well, but does not fly over the big imperfections of the roadway with as much composure as the other Rolls-Royces. The steering allows you to guide it through the meanders with relative ease, but neither its precision nor its flexibility will help you when parking it. Its turning circle is similar to that of an ocean liner.

The Specter needs space. Lots of space and lots of watts too. The energy efficiency of this English is not its first quality. Neither does its autonomy. “None of our customers really cares about it,” a representative of the brand whispers to me. And for good reason, they have, on average, seven other vehicles in their garage.

Technical sheet

Engines

• Electric permanent magnets
• 584 hp
• 664 lb-ft of torque

Performance

• Weight: 2890 kg
• Acceleration (0-100 km/h): 4.5s
• Maximum towing capacity: not recommended

Gearbox

• Standard: automatic
• Optional: none
• Drive mode: all-wheel drive

Tires

• 255/45R23 (standard)
• 295/35R23 (optional)

Electric autonomy/charging

• 418 km (manufacturer)
• Level 3 – 50 kWh (from 10% to 80%): 95 minutes

Consumption/battery

• Consumption: 26.7 kWh/100 km (best consumption obtained)
• Battery: 102kWh

Dimensions

• Wheelbase: 3210mm
• Length: 5475mm
• Height: 1573mm
• Width: 2017mm

You can not stop progress

We are in 2011. At that time, the BMW group was trying to gauge the potential and acceptability of the electric vehicle among the general public. And its shareholders too. All brands of the group presented a vehicle. Including Rolls-Royce, which took advantage of its visit to the Geneva Motor Show to unveil the 102eX. A concept developed on the basis of a Phantom sedan. To measure the progress made since then, know that the 102eX powered its two electric motors (these only drove the rear wheels) from a 71 kWh battery housed under the hood.

A dress in the wind

Rarely do we have the opportunity to study a Rolls-Royce closely, but the Specter deserves a little more attention. The mascot symbolizing the spirit of ecstasy (The Spirit of Ecstasy) has a different appearance. Her sails (no, they’re not wings) don’t lift as much as they used to. Don’t see this as a reaction to any movement. This “new” dress required more than 800 hours of work in the wind tunnel and above all made it possible to reduce the aerodynamic drag coefficient of the Spectre.