Luxury automaker Rolls Royce has announced the launch of Spectre—its first fully electric car coming in 2023. The announcement is part of the company’s fleet-wide shift to electric vehicles, which it says will happen by 2030.
“Our company is embarking on an historic undertaking to create the first, super luxury car of its type,” Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös said in a statement. “This will happen, sooner than many thought possible, through the incredible skills, expertise, vision, and dedication of our engineers, designers and specialists at the Home of Rolls-Royce.”
It’s the latest luxury car brand to announce a fully electric luxury model. Bentley recently announced its first EV, expected in 2025. So has Aston Martin.
“For us, electrification is, on the side of our marvelous 12-cylinder engine, a very important step into the long-future for the brand,” Müller-Ötvös said. “Clients are also asking us actively, ‘When are you going electric?'”
That’s a question Rolls Royce founder Charles Rolls asked more than 100 years ago, according to Yahoo. The founder rode in an early electric car model designed by U.S. carmaker Columbia in 1900. “The electric car is perfectly noiseless and clean,” Rolls said more than 120 years ago. “There is no smell or vibration, and they should become very useful when fixed charging stations can be arranged.”
Rolls Royce Spectre
His brand is now seeing to it with the launch of Spectre. The car will be road tested later this year and details otherwise are scarce. It will include the BMW-owned brand’s new aluminum space-frame architecture.
BMW recently announced a partnership with vegan cactus leather manufacturer Desserto. It showcased the brand at the recent IAA Mobility Expo in Munich.
Like other carmakers, 2030 is the self-imposed goal for Rolls Royce to go fully electric. It aligns with regulations in key markets like California and the EU that aim to replace combustion engine vehicles with EVs as part of emissions targets.
For Rolls Royce, shifting away from its iconic V-12 engines should be an easier transition than for other carmakers as electric engines are similarly quiet and deliver the torque Rolls Royce drivers are already familiar with.
“With this new product we set out our credentials for the full electrification of our entire product portfolio by 2030,” Müller-Ötvös said. “By then, Rolls-Royce will no longer be in the business of producing or selling any internal combustion engine products.”
