“No smell, no vibration:” First all-electric Rolls-Royce completes testing near Arctic Circle

British luxury automaker Rolls-Royce has taken another step towards launching its first all-electric vehicle, completing winter testing of the Spectre 55-kilometres 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”, announced back in September 2021 that it would launch the Rolls-Royce Spectre, the company’s first all-electric car.

It will fulfill the prophecy of one of the marque’s founders, Charles Rolls, who drove an electric car more than 122 years ago in 1900 named the Columbia and declared that “The electric car is perfectly noiseless and clean. There is no smell or vibration. They should become very useful when fixed charging stations can be arranged.”

The Rolls-Royce Spectre is currently in the middle of an extensive testing program, with nearly 2 million kilometres left before the company’s engineers are willing to even consider the start of deliveries.

“The announcement of every new Rolls-Royce motor car carries a great weight of expectation, but Spectre is unquestionably the most anticipated product in the marque’s modern history,” said Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars CEO.

“This is because 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.

“The extraordinary undertaking of educating Spectre to think and behave like a Rolls-Royce will cover 2.5 million kilometres, which is a simulation of more than 400 years of use for a Rolls-Royce. Today, I can confirm that 25% of this journey is now complete, and the results have met our most ambitious expectations.”

The Rolls-Royce Spectre began on-road testing back in September 2021, and since then has moved on to complete its winter testing at its specialist facility in Arjeplog, Sweden, 55-kilometres from the Arctic Circle in temperatures as low as -40˚C.

Winter testing is critical for Rolls-Royce. “By driving on low traction surfaces such as snow and ice and wilfully destabilising Spectre, the engineers can create dynamic circumstances at low speeds that would ordinarily occur at high speeds,” it says.

Rolls-Royce says its first all-electric vehicle will be far-and-away the most technologically advanced and connected Rolls-Royce ever.

The Spectre will also be built on the company’s new fully electric power train with built-in Decentralised Intelligence – Rolls-Royce 3.0, in the company’s vernacular. This has in turn resulted in a significantly increased level of simplicity, despite the concomitant uptick in the requirement for improved engineering.