After being teased during its development a year ago, the 2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre has finally made its debut. Going electric for Rolls-Royce was an idea that was conceived by Charles Rolls more than 120 years ago. After all, while having a very smooth and refined V12 is good, nothing beats the silence and lack of vibrations provided by electric propulsion.
As such, going electric isn’t just seen by Rolls-Royce to be an environmental duty, but also a natural evolution to make their cars more refined. The Spectre is not a light vehicle. As a matter of fact, the batteries alone weigh more than 700 kg, and in total, the Spectre weighs as much as 2,975 kg. The batteries also enable the Spectre to level up in terms of refinement. The 700-kg battery also serves as added sound deadening as well as increasing chassis rigidity. Combined with the silence of the electric motors, the Spectre will definitely offer one of the quietest interiors in the industry.
Rolls-Royce hasn’t revealed the powertrain layout of the Spectre, including its battery size, but we suspect it’s much larger than the 105 kWh that’s fitted to the BMW i7 for it to achieve a 520-kilometer range despite its porky weight. The Spectre rides on the same Architecture of Luxury platform as the Phantom, Ghost, and Cullinan, and it’s confirmed that the Spectre has a total output of 577 hp and 900 Nm of torque, enough to bring this large luxury coupe from 0-100 kph in just 4.5 seconds. That’s fast by any measure, but not as blisteringly quick when compared to something like a Tesla Model S.
But that isn’t why you buy a Rolls-Royce in the first place. Rolls-Royce loves to tour their vehicles’ “Magic Carpet” ride, and that is what they still set out to achieve in the Spectre. The Planar suspension system decouples the anti-roll bars to prevent roll-rock on uneven surfaces, but when the system detects that the Spectre is being driven in corners, the anti-roll bars are then brought back.
And then finally in terms of design, the 2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre carries the familiar aesthetic that the ultra-luxury brand is known for. The overall design is similar to the Wraith, but the lines are more dynamic with its more aggressively-raked roof and more sloped front end. Speaking of the front end, the fascia has thin LED daytime running lights and separate main headlight clusters. The grille that’s fitted to the Spectre does not cool an engine bay, and it only provides aerodynamic benefits to the front end. It’s also the widest grille fitted to a Rolls-Royce, and it contains 22 LEDs.
Matching the dynamic and sporty shape of the Spectre is a tweaked Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament. She now leans much more forward than before, and believe it or not, the brand says it took them more than 800 hours of modelling just to achieve that posture. All in all, the aerodynamic grille, 23-inch wheels (the largest ever in a Rolls-Royce in more than 100 years) and the new Spirit of Ecstasy contribute to a relatively low drag coefficient of just 0.25.
Inside, the 2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre is just as luxurious as you’d imagine. New for the Spectre is a new version of its infotainment system, though this is not yet based on the latest BMW iDrive 8. The front passenger now benefits from a display that features the Spectre logo as well as a design that mimics the Starlight headliner–which now extends down towards the doors.
The 2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre will make its first deliveries near the end of 2023, which means there’s more than a year’s wait from today until customers receive their electric Rolls-Royce vehicles.
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