We all love a Rolls-Royce. The British company produces some of the very best machines when it comes to automotive luxury. Cars like the Silver Shadow, the Ghost and the Phantom are some truly special cars and ones that resonate with loads of us. When they bring out a new car, it always gets us excited, and we can’t wait to delve deeper into them. At long last, too, we have a new Rolls-Royce in which we can salivate over and get excited for.
Rolls-Royce has recently unveiled its new Spectre, a car that is perhaps set to become the most significant in the brand’s history. By 2025, Rolls-Royce expect to make just electric powered cars. And coming in 2023 is the first ever all-electric Rolls-Royce, the Spectre. This is a car set to have 600 hp and propel Rolls-Royce away from its glorious V12 engines and into a new electric era. That in itself is quite sad, but everyone must move with the times to stay relevant and to fight climate change. That is exactly what Rolls-Royce are doing with the all-new Spectre.
Getting To Know The Roll-Royce Spectre
Thanks to Mat Watson and CarWow, we have quite a few details on this latest Rolls-Royce. Rolls-Royce did flirt with electric cars back in 2011 with the gorgeous 102EX, the EX standing for experimental. It was just a 2011 Phantom but with an electric drive train in it, and two electric motors potentially at the back. That car had 390 hp, with a 71 kWh battery. The Spectre though is much more advanced and with a lot more power, and is the company’s first series foray into the EV world.
Unlike the Phantom, this is a two-door car, much like the Wraith. But the Spectre is totally new, and based on the latest Phantom platform that was designed for conversion to electric at some point. Rolls-Royce want us to think of this car as something like a Phantom coupe. The 103EX concept might also lend some of its design language to the Spectre, although the Spectre won’t look quite as crazy. Rolls-Royce cars are not the smallest car’s in the world, but the prototype Spectre has a drag coefficient of just 0.26. That is quite impressive, given the size of the car. But there is still room for improvement there.
What We Can Expect From Rolls-Royce's First EV
There are some interesting details with the new Spectre. The Spirit of Ecstasy, for example, at the front of the Rolls-Royce. It is set to be smaller than on current Rolls-Royce models. The car is not set to lose its grille, as it is a very popular characteristic of pretty much any Rolls-Royce. Even if there is no need for a grille thanks to the electric drivetrain. Watson says that we can expect an illuminated grille, similar to what we see on some electric cars from parent company BMW’s electric cars.
There is likely to be some proportion sharing between BMW and Rolls-Royce and BMW too. This has been done in the past by BMW, and with them cranking out EVs like the i4 and the i7, it stands to reason BMW will share the proportions from their cars to the Rolls-Royce. It's unclear what battery pack exactly the Spectre will have. Rolls-Royce just say it weighs around 700 kilos, which would put it at around the 102 kWh mark of the battery pack in the i7. What else do we know then about the performance of this new Rolls-Royce?
Working Out The New Car’s Range
What range could we expect the Spectre to have? Well, the i7 has a range between 370-390 miles. So that gives us an idea as to what to expect with the Rolls-Royce. But it is set to be a heavier car, so it might drop a bit, but perhaps only to around the 350-mile mark. The i7 has a dual-motor setup which puts out 544 hp, while the higher performance i7 puts out 660 hp. Rolls-Royce will likely want to make sure the Spectre produces at least 600 hp to be more powerful than the rest of the cars in their lineup.
Getting Ready For A New Era For Rolls-Royce
It is quite exciting that we are getting an all-electric Rolls-Royce, and it certainly feels like it has been a long time coming. The only images we have so far are the prototype teasers from Rolls-Royce but it's still great to see the car. There are some great innovations too, such as using the battery pack to absorb noise from the tires and road to make the car as quiet as possible, and that will cut down on the sound-proofing slightly. We expect to see this car for the 2023 model year, and we can’t wait to see what it is like.
Source: CarWow YouTube Channel