2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre EV Quick Drive: The Way It Was Meant To Be
With the all-electric Spectre, Rolls-Royce finally achieves its founding dream.
For 120 years, Rolls-Royce has been chasing a dream. Charles Rolls and Sir Henry Royce set out to build “the best car in the world,” one “as silent as its shadow” that would run smoother and quieter than any other. Finally, after all this time, the 2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre EV is the ultimate expression of that goal.
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Silence, Please
In the early 1900s, cars were loud, they shook and vibrated, and they were—by all accounts—uncouth. To the wealthy of the era, a car that was smooth and silent was the pinnacle of automotive luxury, and Rolls-Royce endeavored to build that car. Royce meticulously engineered his engines not just for power but to quell vibration as much as mechanically possible.
Indeed, for much of its history, Rolls-Royce simply advertised its vehicles’ horsepower as “adequate.” The point was not to arrive quickly but to get there in supreme comfort and serenity. Rolls-Royces didn’t drive; they wafted. Every four-, six-, eight-, and 12-cylinder engine was designed to that end. Drive a Phantom or Ghost today, and you’ll be hard pressed to hear or feel the massive twin-turbo V-12 under the mile-long hood. Without looking, you’d just have to take Rolls’ word for it.
When the goal is silence and effortless acceleration, though, there’s no beating the electric motor. It makes almost no noise and produces maximum torque at all rpm. Rolls-Royce engineers know this, of course, so the fact their first EV has only just arrived 12 decades after the company was founded was rather a matter of battery technology, charging infrastructure, and customer preference. On the latter account, recall the 102EX EV concept that premiered in 2011 and was demonstrated to potential customers in private salons; it was met with collective eye rolls and yawns. Thirteen years ago, few cared enough about gas prices, climate change, or virtue signaling to write a check for several hundred thousand dollars in return for a car with 120 miles of range, an eight-hour charge time (fast charging didn’t exist yet), and crucially, no prestigious V-12 engine under the hood.
But in the past baker’s dozen years, it's not just the world that’s changed. The Spectre can travel between 264 and 291 miles on a charge depending on wheel size. (The optional 23s on this car reduce range in the name of fashion.) It charges from 10 to 80 percent in 34 minutes at up to 195 kW. Its dual motors give it all-wheel drive and produce 584 hp and 664 lb-ft, enough to waltz it to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds, which must make it one of the quickest Rolls ever built.
Waft This Way
Crucially, it does all this as a Rolls-Royce should. At no point will it ever throw you back in your seat. It surges forward, gently at first but growing like a wave approaching crescendo yet seemingly never reaching it. It’s like other Rolls-Royces but quicker, enough to genuinely surprise you when you realize how quickly you’re actually traveling in this rolling soundproof room.
If you’ve had the privilege of driving or riding in a Ghost or Phantom, you know they’re virtually silent inside. The Spectre is an order of magnitude quieter. At parking lot speeds, it’s eerily silent, so much so that it might bother some people enough to turn on the stereo. At 70 mph, with the stereo off and the fan set to soft, you can still hear yourself breathe.
Rolls-Royce brakes have always made it exceptionally easy to perform “limousine stops” that don’t disturb the passengers in the slightest. The Spectre, though, is the first to do it for you. Press the B button on the shift stalk after you tug it toward you and down into drive then activate the “hold” function via the button above the electronic parking brake release, and you’ll effectively enable full one-pedal driving, Rolls-Royce style. Lift off the accelerator, and the Spectre will gently but firmly brake then modulate the mechanical and regenerative brakes absolutely perfectly to bring the car to a halt so smoothly you almost can’t pinpoint the exact moment all forward progress ceases and you actually become stationary. This car can limousine-stop itself better than your chauffeur.
While handling isn’t the stated objective, two-door Rolls-Royce coupes of late have been considered the driver’s cars of the lineup, and the Spectre doesn’t disappoint. Yes, it’s a massive, 18-foot land yacht, but it’ll hike up its hoop skirts and dance like a German sedan when asked. The inherent low center of gravity pays dividends, and the slight bit of rear steering makes the car feel shockingly nimble, even if it is still quite heavy. The massive steering wheel feels a bit odd to shuffle quickly, but the car will do what you ask of it. The all-wheel drive and electric torque get it out of a corner with authority, as well.
Critically, neither this prowess nor the enormous, heavy wheels compromise the ride quality. It still floats down the road like a Rolls-Royce ought to. Rough pavement merely enters the cabin as brief, gentle vibrations. Bumps are a small jolt, gone as quickly as they come. Sudden dips and rises elicit a single sway of your body before you settle once more.
Perfectly Imperfect
We can, of course, find something to complain about if we look hard enough. For such a massive car, there’s very little storage space inside. There’s a tiny bin just ahead of the center armrest, only barely big enough for an outdated iPhone set diagonally on edge, and certainly no wireless charger. Note to Rolls-Royce: Cords snaking out from under the armrest are unseemly. Beyond that, it’s the cupholders or the door pockets for your stuff.
The storage situation for real luggage isn’t any better. There’s the trunk, which isn’t especially large, and that’s it. Oh, you were expecting a front trunk under that lengthy hood? Nope, just a plastic cover hiding electronics and batteries and such.
Speaking of electronics, while we’re delighted by the twinkling starlight that chases the tip of speedometer needle as it arcs across the digital instrument cluster, we can’t help but feel a screen full of digitally simulated analog dials is less impressive in a world where the Bugatti Tourbillon’s clockwork instrument cluster exists.
The grander show of starlight in the headliner continues to captivate passengers, at least, and we do mean passengers, plural. Yes, this pillarless coupe is a four-seater in more than name, with enough space for taller adults to ride in the rear on moderately long drives. While this is the Rolls-Royce to drive, being driven in it isn’t much of a penalty.
The Dream, Realized
Good things, it’s often said, are worth waiting for. In truth, had an electric Rolls-Royce come with deeper battery technology concessions any less than state-of-the-art, it wouldn’t have been able to fulfill the company’s entire mission brief, even if it was built in the recent past. The Spectre does, and in doing so, it finally achieves the aim set by its founders more than a century ago.
Were you one of those kids who taught themselves to identify cars at night by their headlights and taillights? I was. I was also one of those kids with a huge box of Hot Wheels and impressive collection of home-made Lego hot rods. I asked my parents for a Power Wheels Porsche 911 for Christmas for years, though the best I got was a pedal-powered tractor. I drove the wheels off it. I used to tell my friends I’d own a “slug bug” one day. When I was 15, my dad told me he would get me a car on the condition that I had to maintain it. He came back with a rough-around-the-edges 1967 Volkswagen Beetle he’d picked up for something like $600. I drove the wheels off that thing, too, even though it was only slightly faster than the tractor. When I got tired of chasing electrical gremlins (none of which were related to my bitchin’ self-installed stereo, thank you very much), I thought I’d move on to something more sensible. I bought a 1986 Pontiac Fiero GT and got my first speeding ticket in that car during the test drive. Not my first-ever ticket, mind you. That came behind the wheel of a Geo Metro hatchback I delivered pizza in during high school. I never planned to have this job. I was actually an aerospace engineering major in college, but calculus and I had a bad breakup. Considering how much better my English grades were than my calculus grades, I decided to stick to my strengths and write instead. When I made the switch, people kept asking me what I wanted to do with my life. I told them I’d like to write for a car magazine someday, not expecting it to actually happen. I figured I’d be in newspapers, maybe a magazine if I was lucky. Then this happened, which was slightly awkward because I grew up reading Car & Driver, but convenient since I don’t live in Michigan. Now I just try to make it through the day without adding any more names to the list of people who want to kill me and take my job.
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