The Future of Luxury: A Closer Look at the Rolls-Royce Spectre EV

The electric age is beginning also for Rolls Royce and this is the Rolls Royce Spectre. The first EV, the Rolls Royce of course, gets its distinctive look. Here with a huge front grille, the biggest ever actually, and it also has actually aerodynamic functions. Yeah, very interesting, isn't it? Aerodynamics is a big scheme with this one, with a drag coefficient of 0.25. We can also see the slim integration of the daytime running light. And Rittering blue is the color name of this one here, named after a village. And I think it's a very beautiful bright blue color. It will match the interior, of course. Look at that, here the wheels 23-inch. And of course, the Rolls Royce logo will always stay upright. The length here is 5.45 meters.

That stretches really way long there. Two-door concept, two plus two-seater. And it shares also the wheelbase with the BMW 7 Series in that new generation. Air suspension is standard and the battery will also be shared with BMW. It's around 106 kilowatt hours gross, so around 102-kilowatt hours net. This will give you an approximate range between 400 and 500 kilometers. Or 250 and 300 miles overall. Turning indicators, we place here the daytime running light in the front. Looks quite cool, doesn't it?

By the way, the hood, we cannot open it, we're not allowed today. But it's also not too bad because there is no frunk underneath. They could not fit anything else underneath there. They have a lot of techs, like the air suspension tech in front of there. Front electric motor and so on. So, they said they didn't have much space left for a frunk. And of course, there is Emily or Spirit of Ecstasy retractable. But you can't steal it.

How can this grille serve an aerodynamic function? It's a good question indeed. So, first of all, they could have gone with a closed grille. Which would have been the best for aerodynamics? But then they said it for design reasons. We need an open grille to serve this traditional Rolls-Royce design. But then what do you do with aerodynamics?

Well, then actually you can see the split here. This goes in this direction. This here goes in that direction. And by this split, the incoming air is being channeled then. Alongside the inside of the vehicle. And by that, you can still have an open grille. But make it aerodynamic as good as possible. That's the thing about this grille, right? The length is in inches, by the way.

Of course, important for a British vehicle, 215 inches. And has an all-wheel drive, and one electric motor in the front. One electric motor in the rear.Over 580 horsepower. And the acceleration figure is 4.5 seconds. That's of course very quick for such a heavy vehicle. In the lower part, we can see the black contrast right here. And you can see especially here this rather fluent design. All set on aerodynamics.

However, with keeping up the traditional Rolls-Royce design elements. Here, for example, also the vertical, rather small tail lamps. The charging flap is really classy I mean, look at that. What a beautiful charging flap indeed. And you have DC recharging, 35 minutes from 10% to 80% state of charge. And more technology effects because of the battery actually... On the floor of the vehicle. First of all, the center of gravity is lower. And this is also 30% stiffer than the chassis. Then all other Rolls-Royce models so far. And it's also because of the battery. Because it is used for the stiffness of the whole vehicle.Very interesting. And it also features rear-axle steering. So the rear wheels can turn in the opposite direction than the front wheels.

Reducing the turning circle and also making it more agile.When you're driving a little bit slower. At higher speeds, then it will go in a parallel direction. For more stability. And turning indicators here in the rear. They replace the middle part of one of the vertical elements. What do you think, guys? Let's now take a look at the interior.

And you can see here these suicide doors... inside matte wood. That's a beautiful job indeed. And I like the color matching here from this bright blue on the exterior. To the bright on the interior. And the interior is a little bit brighter though. But I think it still fits. Huge entry badge.And when you take a look inside. You can see the attention to detail.

For example, the seatbelts are kind of enclosed. Or once again, also these really high floor mats. That is also typical for Rolls Royce. And of course, here, the umbrellas. That's a really long umbrella indeed. And of course, also color-matched. Yeah, we need it here today at Lago di Como. It's really wavy. And when you take a look at the inside of the ceiling. It has actually 1,200 stars from underneath the ceiling.

Seats and cockpit

Let's now get inside. This is here a right-hand drive version. So I'm getting on this side. And wow, I mean, I like the floor mats still. It's my favorite actually. Headroom here with 189 or 6'2". It's a lot of headroom there. Only one thing that's disappointing. That they do not offer any alternatives for works for animal skin yet. So I really appreciate the craftsmanship and the attention to detail. But I mean, going electric, sustainability, caring about animals and humans in 2023 here.

They should offer also an animal-free interior definitely. Other luxury brands also do that already. And here, once again, the matte wood. You can feel and see the interior. That's actually pretty cool. And everything is really high-class. What you see, feel, and touch. Come around here, you can see the steering wheel is really large. And that is this vintage quote basically. Also to pass Rolls-Royce cars. And it takes away basically an agile feeling. And more tells you to relax, you're being driven. Have this boat floaty-like atmosphere.

Together with the air suspension, of course. Towards the middle console, it's actually quite spacious. And I really like that they have picked up this star scheme. Also on the passenger screen. On the steering wheel here, real buttons. For example, for setting the cruise control. And also here to control the volume. So not everything is then touched.

I really like to still have a haptic interface with the vehicle. Here, for example, and also for the shifting lever. This is also an old-school design. Just put it here and put it down for the... Oh, that's me hitting the brake. There's like this automatism.

So when you get inside the vehicle and put in the gear.

Then you press the brake first. And here you can see the brake closes the door. By the way, in the middle console, you pull the buttons.

And then you also have the automatic door closing. Being a modern vehicle, you also now get digital instruments. But still in this analog design. In the middle console, you can still control the GPS, for example. With this one, so you don't have to use touch. On the dashboard, more of this beautiful matte wood.And...more classic design here with hotkeys, for example, 128. And also, what I appreciate most. You can play the climate DJ here. And when you move these turning knobs here. They're really soft.

It's... really like an 80s high-class stereo with real metal. And not this new everything just #capacitiveBS. And also when here like warmer and colder. Just when you use them really slightly. It just feels really, really good. It's like this one open then for cup holders. Then here we have more storage underneath. And about the infotainment system. This is all also BMW group design. The good thing is you know what you get. And it's also fairly easy.

This is already then based on the BMW OS 8. And here I'm controlling it from below... Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, and wireless. You can see you can also use it via touch. You can see the map is also decently responsive. It should not be missing here the analog clock. And a very elegant design. You see when I'm driving in the front driver's seat.

Rear seats

There's not much legroom behind that seat left. Nevertheless, I know you like it when I'm getting in the rear. Here it moves forward automatically. And then I can crouch inside. With these high floor mats. Even with you know business shoes. You feel like you would need to take them off. And...well, first of all, the seating comfort here. It's very cool. And headroom-wise, it also works with 189 or 6'2". You have cup holders here. Separate climate control. Even more space, USB-C charging. And of course, from here you can watch that star ceiling. And when I turn this one back in here now. Let's see. It moves back then at some point, it should stop.

But can I still sit here when the seat is driving? Back to my initial driving position? Well, I have to put my knees to the side a little bit. So, it's really 2+2 seaters. So for tall adults, barely I would say. let you know. But I think, you know, with, you know, a couple and two friends. Something that does work, yeah, when they're not too tall.

Boot/trunk

Even the Rolls Royce is not safe from my ruler here. And in this case, it's really a boot, not a trunk. So let's open it and see. Oh, this high floor, that is beautiful, right? Also reminds me of the 7 Series trunk a little bit. Here underneath, you can store your charging cables. And the length is actually quite significant. So here you have like 1 meter and 10 or 43 inches. Just that you are limited in height right here.At about 40 centimeters or 16 inches. But... luggage for two, there's actually no problem.

Expected driving performance

We can expect this one here due to the low center of gravity. And the stiffness coming with the battery housing, the battery itself.Will drive probably better than any other Rolls Royce so far. And of course, the electric performance is there too. With a rear-wheel bias.Because the rear electric motor is stronger than the front one. With the driving review, we will keep you updated here on AKMotoblog.