Rolls-Royce unveils its first fully electric car, The Spectre, arriving in 2023

Rolls-Royce has announced that it will introduce its first electric production car, The Spectre, towards the end of 2023 and has pledged to phase out combustion engines across its entire line-up by 2030. The company has been experimenting with an electric powertrain for some time. The brand revealed 102EX, a fully operational all-electric Phantom in 2011 and 103EX in 2016. The company released details about its first fully electric production car this month.

The official teaser images released by Rolls-Royce revealed some EV-specific design cues, such as the large aeroblade wheels, hunkered-down stance, suicide doors, prominent side skirts and taut surfacing. Rather than using the Cluster Architecture (CLAR) platform that underpins parent company BMW's new i4 and iX EVs, the Spectre will use Rolls-Royce’s own proprietary space frame architecture used in recent Rolls-Royce models including the Phantom, Ghost, and Cullinan. The proprietary platform is exclusively used by Rolls-Royce, and is not shared with other group brand products. The company will be undertaking a ‘most demanding testing programme in Rolls-Royce’s history’ and will cover 1.5 million miles of testing around the world before the launch. The all-electric car will be tested in various parts of the world, to ensure the programme covers varying  temperatures, terrains and altitudes.

In an official media announcement, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Chief Executive Officer, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, said: “Today is the most significant day in the history of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars since 4th May, 1904. Today, 117 years later, I am proud to announce that Rolls-Royce is to begin the on-road testing programme for an extraordinary new product that will elevate the global all-electric car revolution and create the first and finest super-luxury product of its type. This is not a prototype. It’s the real thing, it will be tested in plain sight and our clients will take first deliveries of the car in the fourth quarter of 2023.”

The luxury brand is joining the electric revolution in the wake of phase-out targets set by various governments for internal combustion engine vehicles by 2030. Until today, Rolls-Royce had merely committed only to launching an electric vehicle by the end of the decade. Now it has accelerated that programme by announcing that every model it sells by 2030 will be battery-powered only.