British luxury automaker Rolls-Royce continues to reveal more details about its first battery-electric vehicle, the Spectre, which the company is planning to launch in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The company said Wednesday that 25% of the new model’s testing is complete, while releasing further details about the new coupe, which is undergoing 2.5 million kilometers (1.55 million miles) of testing, simulating 400 years of use.
“The departure from internal combustion engines allows us to significantly increase the processing power of our individual components and create a decentralized intelligence,” said Mihiar Ayoubi, director of Engineering, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
A digital Rolls-Royce for a digital era
To that end, Rolls-Royce considers its forthcoming model to be the start of “Rolls-Royce 3.0,” with Rolls-Royce 1.0 being the launch of the Phantom on its own bespoke architecture at the new Goodwood factory in 2003. This was followed by the launch of the Phantom, Cullinan, Ghost and Coachbuild on a new all-aluminium spaceframe architecture — Rolls-Royce 2.0.
This leads to a very obvious question. Does that make the century’s worth of world-renowned heritage Rolls-Royce 0.0? The company hasn’t said.
It’s all marketing speak to reference a very important point: the Rolls-Royce is a rolling ECU capable of “141,200 sender-receiver relations and has more than 1,000 functions with more than 25,000 sub functions.” If you’re not sure what that means, consider that the Phantom is capable of “51,000 sender-receiver relations, 456 functions and 647 sub functions.”
But there’s an easier way of understanding just how digital this rolling slab of luxury is: the Spectre’s electronic masters require 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) of wiring to function, a 71.4% increase from the Phantom’s 2 kilometers (1.2 miles). It’s all located between the floor of the car and roof of the battery, along with 700 kg of sound deadening.
Baby it’s cold outside
Being that batteries and electronics prefer the relatively balmy temperatures that humans do, it’s little wonder Rolls-Royce is subjecting its newest automotive spirit to cold weather testing at a facility in Arjeplog, Sweden.
Located 55 km from the arctic circle, the car undergoes testing at temperatures ranging from -79° to -104° Fahrenheit. And it’s more than electronics; the car’s noise, vibration and harshness are checked to ensure the Spectre retains its British stiff upper lip character and its chassis control systems, powertrain management and electronics controls continue to function at such uncivilized temperatures.
An apparition for a new automotive age
When designing the new Spectre, its look comes from specters of Rolls-Royces past, in particular, the Phantom Coupe. Given its cutting-edge driveline, designers were careful to ensure the car retained the hallmarks of grand coupes from the marque’s past, such as its iconic dual headlights. To them, that historic emotional connection is as important as the technological ones. And, it wears 23-inch wheels for the first time since 1923.
As for the Spectre’s exclusive platform, it’s not shared with BMW Group products. Designers created a low seating position to facilitate an enveloping cabin experience by moving the bulkhead location to deepen the dashboard location to cocoon passengers.
Testing continues
With the winter testing phase completed, Rolls-Royce will continue to test the Spectre before its launch late nest year.
“It is much more than a product. It is a symbol for our bright, bold electric future, and it represents a seismic shift in our powertrain technology,” said CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös said in the statement. “We benefit from a multi-control, multi-channel and highly interconnected electronic and electric powertrain architecture.”