GOODWOOD, England—Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd. is one of the oldest automotive brands in the world. It’s also one of the newest automakers to announce that it’s going electric. The all-aluminum Spectre will roll off the assembly line late next year. And, by 2030, Rolls-Royce claims that all of its vehicles will be battery powered.
“Spectre possesses all the qualities that have secured the Rolls-Royce legend,” says Torsten Müller-Ötvös, CEO of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. “This incredible car, conceived from the very beginning as our first fully-electric model, is silent, powerful and demonstrates how perfectly [we are] suited to electrification. Spectre [will be] the most perfect product that Rolls-Royce has ever produced.”
The ultra-luxury vehicle will be assembled with extruded aluminum components and will feature a structural battery that will enable it to be 30 percent stiffer than any previous Rolls-Royce. The flexibility of the architecture will enable engineers to place the floor halfway between the sill structures, rather than on top or underneath them.
A channel for wiring and climate control pipework between the battery and the floor, with the battery mounted underneath, will provide 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 kilograms of sound deadening,” explains Müller-Ötvös.
The Spectre will use a 430-kilowatt power train that delivers a range of 320 miles and a 0-to-60 time of 4.4 seconds.
