At Last: Rolls-Royce Spectre To Be Brand’s First Production EV
By Edward A. Sanchez – Sept. 30, 2021
I have long thought that if any legacy brand would be the perfect fit to have an EV, it would be Rolls-Royce – at least, in the modern context. With modern battery technology, and electric motors being naturally silent, torquey, and essentially vibration-free, what would be a better fit for an ultra-luxury car? Evidently I’m not alone.
According to Rolls-Royce, the brands founders, Charles Rolls and Sir Henry Royce, were also fans of electrified powertrains, but were candid in their assessment of the current state of technology at the dawn of the 20th century, and its near-term chances. After riding in an early American EV called the Columbia, Rolls recounted the following of the experience:
“The electric car is perfectly noiseless and clean. There is no smell or vibration, and they should become very useful when fixed charging stations can be arranged. But for now, I do not anticipate that they will be very serviceable – at least for many years to come.”
His observations were indeed prescient. Today, more than 120 years after Rolls’s first experience with an EV, the company has officially announced its first production electric vehicle, the Spectre. As many OEMs are wont to do, of course, Rolls-Royce is taking the opportunity to do a slow-drip tease-and-reveal before the vehicle’s official start of production in Q4 2023.
The Rolls-Royce Spectre EV is slated to enter production by the end of 2023.
Somewhat bucking the predominant trend, the Spectre is a two-door coupe (or since we’re talking about Rolls-Royce, should I say coupé?), with rear-hinged doors, similar in appearance to the brand’s current Wraith coupe.
Rolls-Royce claims that by the time the Spectre reaches production, it will have undergone one of the most rigorous testing regimens in the brand’s history: more than 2.5 million km (1.6 million miles), the equivalent of 400 years of normal use of its vehicles.
Rolls-Royce claims that its forthcoming Spectre EV will undergo 1.6 million miles of testing, representing 400 years worth of driving a Rolls. Do the math backwards, and that means the average Rolls-Royce owner wheels their luxo-cars 4,000 miles per year.
Although the Spectre is Rolls-Royce’s first EV, it won’t be its last, as CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös says that the entire Rolls-Royce lineup will be fully electric by 2030. And, it should be noted, Rolls has teased EV several times in recent years. If you’ve followed the brand over the past decade, you’ll note that the company has previously revealed two EV concepts, the 102EX, which outwardly looked like a standard Phantom sedan, and the flamboyant, futuristic 103EX, that looked like something Cruella De Vil would get out of.
The 102EX reportedly received a lukewarm reception among current Rolls-Royce owners and potential buyers, mainly on account of its somewhat impractical maximum range of 135 miles. While that was a relatively impressive figure for an EV at that time, it was still about a third of what a conventionally-powered Phantom could achieve. And although the current state of EV charging infrastructure globally is nothing to brag about, in 2011, it was considerably more sparse and rudimentary than it is today. To help alleviate that concern, the 102EX featured an inductive charging pad, so their owners (or chauffeurs) would not have to stoop to the level of having to actually plug a charging cord into it (oh, the horror!). Nonetheless, the BMW Group, then the brand’s owner, did not sense a groundswell of interest or demand in it.
Pricing for the forthcoming Rolls-Royce Spectre EV has yet to be announced. But as the saying goes, if you have to ask…
Allow me to paint with a floor broom: Today’s ultra-wealthy tend to fall in one of two camps. First, you have the virtue-signaling elite, hopping from one environmental and social justice cause and conference to the next; and you have the indifferent, indulgent rich, who simply like to surround themselves in the trappings of luxury, with little concern for the environment or what the unwashed masses are concerned about or advocating for.
Tesla was relatively successful in flipping the script on EVs from dorky science experiments to handsome, sophisticated, high-tech premium cars, yet there is still a significant and persistent “anti-Tesla” demographic among the ultra-wealthy who would rather have a gas-swilling V-12 than the silent torquiness of an EV. The wanton and wasteful consumption of resources as being a status symbol is fading to an extent, and virtue-signaling is on the rise. So perhaps the Spectre will find a more receptive audience now than the 102EX did a decade earlier.
Either way, we’re glad to see Charles’s and Sir Henry’s dreams finally come true.
(Images courtesy Rolls-Royce)
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