The apparent query: Why ought to anybody care a few half one million greenback extremely luxe EV?

Most clearly, there isn’t a facet of the auto business that’s immune from the development towards electrical. It’s quicker, smoother, extra linear in acceleration, and has discovered its manner into every thing from pickup vehicles to luxo-barges.

Second, all the “money-is-no-object” RR know-how will ultimately discover its manner into the remainder of the fleet. Rolls Royce tech is owned by BMW; the tech was co-developed together with the underpinnings of the i7 sequence. So along with sharing growth prices, we should always anticipate to see this know-how migrate into every thing from the 2-series (and smaller automobiles in Europe) in addition to the Mini and the complete line of BMW bikes.

The small print of the Spectre are much less spectacular than the truth that such a beast even exists:

577 horsepower
664 pound-feet of torque
6,558 kilos, 17.9 ft lengthy
Zero to 60 mph is 4.4 seconds; high velocity is 155 mph
260 miles per cost
Cost from 10% to 80% full in 34 minutes (fast-charger)
$500,000 coupe

Lest anybody harbors any illusions concerning the impression of EVs, my pal Hannah Elliot, the primary particular person exterior of RR to drive the Spectre, put it this manner:

“I discovered the estimated $500,000 coupe to be smoother, extra silent and extra highly effective–to not point out higher wanting–than any of its V-12 predecessors. The 118-year-old model has tied its mythology to its famously enormous combustion engines, however this primary step into electrification is daring and surefooted. The firstborn in a deliberate line of electrical autos, this two-door titan saturates its passengers in indulgence. It indicators a clean transition forward.”

As a lot because it pains a V8 petrol-head like myself, the truth is electrical is solely a superior know-how. Full cease.

Certain, it doesn’t have the roar, the scent, even the power to make mods and upgrades (but) that inside combustion engines had. Fashionable ICE automobiles within the ECU period not have the power to tinker that earlier automobiles had anyway.

Look, the interior combustion engine lasted over a century. It was an excellent run, however it’s coming to an finish.

Or extra precisely, it’s over.

I’ve a storage filled with antiques, and that’s simply tremendous. The truth that they’re only some years previous shouldn’t confuse anybody. They could as nicely be a 100-year-old oak eating room desk, or another collectible bauble, they’re antiques nonetheless.

Supply: Rolls-Royce; See additionally Bloomberg, Automotive and Driver