The First Electric Rolls-Royce Truly Does Glide Along Like A Spectre

A spectre is defined as a ghost, phantom or apparition. It floats around silently, untethered to reality. Rarely has there ever been a more appropriately named car than the Rolls-Royce Spectre. The Spectre is the first ever series production Rolls-Royce with a fully electric propulsion system and more than ever before, it truly lives up to the brand’s traditional naming scheme.

From the brand’s early days in 1908, one of the hallmarks of Rolls-Royce was the use of nameplates like Silver Ghost, Phantom, Wraith and others. This was premised on the exceptionally smooth and quiet operation of the well-engineered and hand-built machinery. A Rolls-Royce was a car in which passengers and drivers would be ensconced in luxury and isolated from the world outside. But none of the cars that have gone before had anything on the new Spectre in the quiet department.

The Spectre arrives a dozen years after Rolls-Royce built an experimental battery powered version of the Phantom. After showing it to customers, it was decided that the technology wasn’t quite ready for the brand’s discerning customers. But in the intervening years, parent company BMW has built quite a few plug-in hybrid and battery electric models and the technology and software has improved to the point where a zero emissions Rolls is now available.

However, instead of electrifying the Phantom, Rolls-Royce made an electric replacement for the outgoing Wraith coupe. The Spectre retains a clear visual DNA connection with the Wraith, but it has also undergone significant evolution. It remains a fastback two-door coupe with a long hood and rear hinged doors making it pretty much unique in the current automotive world. The roof and side glass profile is very similar to the Wraith, but the Spectre is about 6.6-inches longer with 3.9-inches more wheelbase.

Visually, the biggest differences are in the grille and lights. Both the head and tail lamps have been slimmed down. The front lighting in particular consists of razor thin horizontal LED strips for running lamps with darker headlamps mounted in pockets below. The traditional Rolls-Royce grille remains instantly recognizable, but it is now wider and shorter than before and is in fact the widest grille ever on a Rolls-Royce.

Swing open those long doors and you will of course as always find an umbrella ensconced in the leading edge. With the rear hinges, seating yourself in those big comfy seats is easy and you can swing your legs in or out more gracefully than in more mundane rides. The seats are surprisingly supportive, implying that this is a true driver’s car as opposed to the Phantom which is something most owners will be driven in. While the rear seats of the Spectre are nowhere near as expansive as what you’ll find in a Phantom or Ghost, they are roomy enough for a pair of adults.

Rolls-Royces tend to be built to order with unique combinations of color and materials to match the customer’s desires. The test car I drove was painted in a magnificent Imperial Jade green with a black roof, trunk and center section of the hood. Inside it was finished in predominantly black leather and wood with gold leather accents on the seats and door panels. The doors and headliner also had the starlight effect with fiber optics shining through nearly 4,800 perforations creating a pattern akin to the night sky. The yellow lambswool floor mats were among the most plush I’ve ever seen anywhere, let alone in a car. When the driver steps on the brake pedal, the door silently closes itself automatically.

The dashboard of the Spectre looks very traditional with modern elements mixed in including the fully digital instrument cluster and center touchscreen. Unlike newer BMW models which have a large curved display sitting atop the dashboard, the screens in the Spectre are fully integrated. An iDrive style rotary controller sits on the center console and the infotainment is a variation of the BMW system but with a unique Rolls-Royce skin. There is also support for wireless Android Auto and Apple Carplay.

Under the floor is a 102 kWh battery pack that delivers an EPA rated 291 miles of range with the standard 22-inch wheel setup. With the Black Badge package and summer tires, that drops to 280 miles. The battery can be charged from a DC fast charger at up to 195 kW, getting from 10-80% charge in 34 minutes.

Of course Rolls-Royce luxury isn’t light and at 6,371-pounds, the Spectre has plenty of road hugging weight. Fortunately, the 190-kW front and 360-kW rear motors provide a combined 584-hp and 661 lb-ft of torque. That’s enough to accelerate this big coupe to 60 mph in about 4.4 seconds.

On the day I drove the Spectre on the roads near BMW’s Spartanburg South Carolina assembly plant, the temperature was about 81 so the air conditioning was on which revealed the first revelation about the Spectre. It has far and away the quietest ventilation fans I’ve ever experienced in a car. At the highest fan speed it was just barely audible and at anything less, there was no sound. Holding my hand in front of the vent, I could feel the air moving, I just couldn’t hear it.

The silent treatment continued once the Spectre was in motion. Electric cars are inherently quiet, but with the windows closed, there was almost no noticeable wind or road noise in the cabin. Rolls-Royce uses Michelin tires with foam around the interior of the carcass that helps dampen sound and even on the optional wheels the silence was eerie. However, the Spectre was clearly designed to driven with windows up because once lowered, the sound and turbulence came in a rather surprising way. But that probably won’t matter to most Spectre drivers that will probably prefer the isolation.

The beauty of electric propulsion is that the immense torque comes on instantly so even with the prodigious heft of this car, it picks up speed quickly. It’s not the sort of violent acceleration you get from something like a Tesla Model S Plaid, in fact, it’s consistent with the overall feeling of serenity. It just gathers velocity in a seamless fashion and before you know it, you’re going faster than you probably should.

The Spectre is not meant to be a sports car, but rather a grand touring machine that covers lots of ground quickly and in comfort. A run from Marseilles to Monaco or Beverly Hills to Las Vegas would be utterly effortless in this car. Of course this is a Rolls-Royce meaning it's not a car for the teeming masses, but rather for the uber wealthy and discerning. With a starting price of around $420,000 most examples will probably top half a million dollars when optioned. That’s a lot of money, but this is an exceptional example of hand-crafted luxury that lives up to its name.