The first ever electric Rolls-Royce is inching closer to UK roads, after it was spotted being put through its paces in its natural home - the French Riviera.
In many ways, an electric Roller actually makes a hell of a lot of sense.
We’re already talking about big, heavy vehicles which are large enough to accommodate a bulky battery pack.
And Rolls-Royce appears to be very excited about what the all-electric ‘Spectre’ can offer, calling it the ‘purest expression of the Rolls-Royce experience in the marque’s 118-year history’.
Rolls-Royce, headquartered in sunny West Sussex, is also aiming to be a fully-electric brand by 2030.
So, what do we know about the Spectre so far? Erm, actually not very much, with Rolls-Royce playing its cards close to its chest in terms of the powertrain and performance.
But, as you’re probably aware, Rolls-Royce is actually owned by BMW and has been since the late Nineties.
And there are good indications - not least some of the styling cues - that the Rolls-Royce Spectre will be based on the flagship, £108,000 BMW i7.
The i7 boasts a huge 102 kWh battery, power of 544 hp, an impressive 0-62mph time of just 4.7 seconds. The i7 also has a range of up to 369 miles between charges, but with the Roller being heavier, the Spectre might struggle to hit that benchmark.
The Spectre is also being well and truly tested ahead of its arrival next year.
Rolls-Royce says it’s on a 1.5 million mile test programme, which began in the depths of an Arctic winter in Sweden last year and which has now moved to the glamorous French Côte d’Azur - proper Rolls-Royce stomping ground.
The spirit of the Spectre remains very much Rolls-Royce.
The firm calls it the ‘most connected’, most ‘intelligent’ vehicle to ever roll off its production line, with more than 25,000 ‘functions’ to deal with.
The famed ‘Magic Carpet Ride’ suspension is also paramount.
A spokesperson for Rolls-Royce says:
“Using a suite of new hardware components and leveraging Spectre’s high-speed processing capabilities, this sophisticated electronic roll stabilisation system uses data from the motor car’s Flagbearer system, which reads the road surface ahead, and satellite navigation system, which alerts Spectre to upcoming corners.
On straight roads, the system can automatically decouple Spectre’s anti-roll bars, allowing each wheel to act independently. This prevents the rocking motion that occurs when one side of a vehicle hits an undulation in the road. This also dramatically improves high-frequency imperfections in ride caused by smaller, more frequent shortcomings in road surface quality.”
The Super Coupe Spectre should also be adept in the twisties, thanks to the most rigid body in the marque’s history - a 30% improvement over all existing Rolls-Royce cars.
And what about the price tag? You can expect it to cost north of £300,000, so you’ll need deep pockets to enjoy one.
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