British luxury carmaker Rolls-Royce has taken another step towards the launch of its first all-electric vehicle, completing winter testing of the Specter 55 kilometers from the Arctic Circle in Sweden, with deliveries still expected for the fourth quarter. of 2023.
Rolls-Royce, self-proclaimed makers of ‘the best car in the world’, have announced their return in September 2021 that he would launch the Rolls-Royce Spectre, the company’s first all-electric car.
It will fulfill the prophecy of one of the brand’s founders, Charles Rolls, who drove an electric car called Columbia more than 122 years ago in 1900 and declared that “The electric car is perfectly silent and clean. There is no smell or vibration. They should become very useful when fixed charging stations can be set up.
The Rolls-Royce Specter is currently in the midst of an extensive testing programme, with almost 2 million kilometers to go before the company’s engineers are even ready to consider the start of deliveries.
“The announcement of every new Rolls-Royce-powered car raises high expectations, but Specter is undoubtedly the most anticipated product in the brand’s modern history,” said Torsten Müller-Ötvös, CEO of Rolls-Royce. Royce Motor Cars.
“That’s because it’s so much more than a product. It’s a symbol of our bright and bold electric future, and it represents a seismic shift in our powertrain technology.
“The extraordinary undertaking of teaching Specter to think and behave like a Rolls-Royce will cover 2.5 million kilometres, a simulation of over 400 years of use for a Rolls-Royce. Today, I can confirm that 25% of this trip is now complete and that the results have met our most ambitious expectations.
The Rolls-Royce Specter began road testing in September 2021, and since then has completed winter testing at its specialist factory in Arjeplog, Sweden, 55 kilometers from the Arctic Circle in temperatures as low as – 40˚C
Winter testing is essential for Rolls-Royce. “By driving on low-traction surfaces such as snow and ice and deliberately destabilizing Spectre, engineers can create low-speed dynamic circumstances that would normally occur at high speeds,” he says.
Rolls-Royce says its first all-electric vehicle will be by far the most technologically advanced and connected Rolls-Royce ever.
The Specter will also be built on the company’s new all-electric powertrain with integrated decentralized intelligence – Rolls-Royce 3.0, in the company’s vernacular. This in turn has resulted in a greatly increased level of simplicity, despite the concomitant rise in the requirement for improved engineering.
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has written about climate change, clean technology and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew the economy and The conduit since 2012. His favorite mode of transportation is on his feet because he never learned to drive and his learner’s license has expired.
