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Spectre Super Coupe is first all-electric Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce's first purely electric vehicle, Spectre, will be a two-door, jazzy fastback, all blinged out for the Great Gatsby types of the 21st century. With its suicide doors, illuminated surfaces, and star-studded interior, Spectre heralds the arrival of Rolls-Royce 3.0 and the beginning of a bold new all-electric era for the brand.

Details are scarce, but here's what we know so far. The 16-ft-long, dual-motor "Ultra-Luxury Electric Super Coupe" sits on 23-in. wheels and draws inspiration from not only the contemporary Rolls-Royce line but haute couture, modernist sculpture, nautical design, tailoring, and contemporary art. It has the lowest drag coefficient ever for a Rolls-Royce car. Spectre is projected to have an all-electric range of 320 miles on a single charge and offer 900 Nm of torque from its 585-hp powertrain. Zero to 60 time should be around 4.4 sec.

Spectre sits on a tailored version of the all-aluminum spaceframe architecture that is used by the Phantom, Cullinan, and Ghost models. In this case, the sophisticated extruded aluminum sections and integration of the battery into the structure of the car enable it to be 30% stiffer than any previous Rolls-Royce. The flexibility of the architecture has also allowed engineers to place the floor halfway between the sill structures rather than on top or underneath them. A channel has been created for wiring and climate control pipework between the battery and the floor, with the battery mounted underneath, providing a perfectly smooth underfloor profile. This not only creates a low seating position and enveloping cabin, but realizes a secondary function for the battery: almost 700-kg of sound deadening.

Using a suite of new hardware components and leveraging Spectre's high-speed processing capabilities (headed by a Decentralized Intelligence system that coordinates more than 1,000 vehicle functions), the Planar suspension system can decouple the car's anti-roll bars, allowing each wheel to act independently and preventing the rocking motion that occurs when one side of a vehicle hits an undulation in the road. This also reduces high-frequency ride imperfections caused by shortcomings in road surface quality.

Once a corner is identified as imminent, the Planar system recouples the components and stiffens the dampers. The four-wheel steering system is then prepared for activation to ensure effortless entry and exit. Under cornering, 18 sensors are monitored, and steering, braking, power delivery, and suspension parameters are adjusted so that Spectre remains stable. The result is effortless control. The ride is so smooth that the developers have dubbed it "Rolls-Royce in high definition" on account of the speed and accuracy of the car's response to myriad road conditions.

Inside, Spectre will be provisioned with Rolls-Royce's most technologically advanced features yet. The interior draws inspiration from a night-time sky theme and includes the option of Starlight Doors and headliner, which incorporates almost 5,000 softly illuminated LED star lights.

As with all Rolls-Royce motor cars, Spectre's interior suite offers clients near-infinite bespoke possibilities. The all-new front seat design has been inspired by British tailoring, with lapel sections that can be rendered in contrasting or matching colors to the main base. Bespoke stitching, embroidery, and intricate piping is all up to the buyer.

Market launch is expected in the fourth quarter of 2023. Pricing should run around $400,000.

Source: Rolls-Royce

Published December 2022

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