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EXPERT REVIEW

2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre Review: Eco-Conscious Excess Never Felt So Good

By Aaron Bragman

The verdict: The 2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre is the ultra-luxury brand’s first-ever EV, and its fully electric powertrain makes it even more silent, opulent and flat-out lust-worthy than any Rolls-Royce has ever been.

Versus the competition: The Spectre isn’t as fast or crazy as a Lucid Air Sapphire, nor is it as sporty as a Tesla Model S Plaid, but it’s not meant to be; this is a grand touring coupe built for stately, confident motoring.

Here’s an interesting idea: The qualities that make electric vehicles problematic for so many people are the qualities that make conventional Rolls-Royces amazing. Consider: EVs are typically a lot heavier than other cars; so are Rolls-Royces. EVs are a lot quieter than just about every gas-powered car; so are Rolls-Royces. EVs tend to cost a lot more than most other cars; so do Rolls-Royces. Sounds like a Rolls-Royce would make a perfect electric car, doesn’t it?

Related: Here Are the New Electric Vehicles Planned by 2026

Well, the brand seems to think so, and that’s one reason for the new 2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre, the first-ever electric car from the storied high-end brand.

Big and Stately

So, what is it exactly? The new 2024 Spectre is a two-door coupe that ostensibly replaces the outgoing Wraith coupe and Dawn convertible in the Rolls-Royce lineup — but it’s not a direct replacement, really, as the Spectre is notably larger than the Wraith. In size, mission and price, it’s more of a spiritual successor to the old Phantom Coupe, which was built from 2008-16. Whereas the Wraith was a kind of bad-boy, aggressive, statement-making two-door, the Spectre is a much more sedate, refined and cultured take on a two-door personal luxury coupe.

The Spectre uses what Rolls-Royce calls the Architecture of Luxury, which is the platform that underpins the Ghost, Phantom and a few other vehicles in the lineup, although it’s modified here to accept a traylike battery pack. The Spectre is long and wide, and despite having just two ( very long) doors, it seats four full-sized humans in comfort (which the Wraith did not). And while the Architecture of Luxury platform was designed by BMW (which owns Rolls-Royce), Rolls-Royce wants to assure you this is not a rebodied BMW 7 Series. The Architecture of Luxury is completely aluminum — which BMW-brand platforms are not — and it’s only used for Rolls-Royce products.

Not Sleek, But Still Stunning

From the outside, it’s obvious that this is a Rolls-Royce. In building its first EV, the company had an opportunity to completely rethink its styling approach, but it instead chose to continue the strategy that’s made it a hip, modern, bespoke luxury brand for the past decade or so. Oh, you thought Rolls-Royce was an old man’s car? Turns out, the average age of a Rolls-Royce buyer is 43 years old, according to the company, which is the youngest average buyer of any of the BMW Group’s brands. That’s right — Rolls-Royce has a younger buyer on average than Mini.

That said, the Spectre is not sleek. Nothing this physically huge can really be described as sleek, but Rolls-Royces aren’t sleek; they’re imposing, upright, chunky and solid, and the Spectre is no different. Take that massive grille up front: Why does this EV even have a grille? All the cooling happens via ducts under the car, not through the grille, but it’s such an iconic part of the Rolls-Royce style that the thing just wouldn’t look right without one. Same with having the Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament up there: It’s no longer sitting atop the grille, it’s placed back a little ways but can still do its power-retracting disappearing act.

The Spectre’s big, imposing flanks deliver a high beltline, sloping roofline and big chunky energy all the way to the trunk. The taillights are stylish jewels set into the rear fenders — punched through the metal stamping rather than being located at a seam — and the whole look is just massive, imposing and dramatic. It absolutely gets noticed — as I learned when a woman of a certain age actually pulled up next to me at a stoplight and invited me out for a drink. Not kidding.

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The Finest Interior Anywhere

But like all Rolls-Royces, while it’s great to be seen arriving in one, it’s even better to arrive in one. The doors open “coach style” (we don’t call them “suicide doors” anymore, thank you) and are powered for easy closing. The colors inside can be simply wild; the Spectre I drove was finished in black and yellow, and it’s simply gorgeous. Step in and have a seat, then either use the buttons on the center console or just put your foot on the brake to close the doors.

Once inside, you’ll be immediately struck by a few things. First off is the materials quality. It seriously, literally, does not get better than this. Everything inside the Spectre is incredibly solid; nothing feels plasticky, cheap, flimsy or fake. There’s real metal, and everything that looks like wood is actually wood. In addition to a starlight headliner, you can now get starlight doors . When you tap a fingernail on the round air vents you can tell they’re machined billet aluminum just from the ringing sound they make. And you can customize the cabin in pretty much any color combination you can dream up; the options for mixing and matching are practically endless. Go try the vehicle configurator on Rolls-Royce’s website and you’ll easily lose an hour of your life just playing with the colors. Sitting in this car, you’re never asking yourself why it costs so much; it’s patently obvious. Just how expensive is it? Eh, we’ll get to that in a bit.

A few things to note: The gauge cluster is digital, but you won’t be playing with all kinds of reconfigurable options; it comes one way, in one color, set at the factory. There are plenty of options as to what that one color is, matched to the interior, but once it’s set, it’s a part of the car. The ambient lighting, meanwhile, is white and can’t become a roller disco as all the latest Mercedes-Benz models can. Yes, there are umbrellas in the fenders, and all the traditional Rolls-Royce touches are still here, including push-pull knobs for the vent controls and the marque’s rather inscrutable rotating dials for temperature control. But there’s also a lot of new stuff, such as a multimedia system that has a lot in common with BMW’s iDrive system but isn’t iDrive; it’s a unique Rolls-Royce system that the company calls Spirit.

Comfort is absolutely paramount in a Rolls-Royce, including the Spectre. The seats are big and comfortable, with optional ventilation and massaging features. Visibility out is also surprisingly good, thanks to the upright windows and enormous side mirrors; they’re practically trucklike. I’ve towed trailers behind pickup trucks with smaller mirrors than the Spectre’s. Everything is reasonably easy to use, and few controls are touchscreen-only. Rolls-Royce seems to understand that technology does not equal luxury (something German luxury brands don’t seem to grok), but that true luxury comes from the way something feels when you use it. Think the smooth action of a knob or the precision clicking noise of a button; the Spectre absolutely feels expensive inside.

Silent as a Spectre

This is the first-ever electric Rolls-Royce, so how it drives is critically important. As stated, many of the qualities that make EVs so unusual are qualities that make Rolls-Royces so desirable. The Spectre is powered by two motors, one up front and one in back, for continuous all-wheel drive. It produces a total system output of 577 horsepower and 664 pounds-feet of torque, which the company says is good for a 0-60 mph time of 4.4 seconds. That’s plenty quick for a coupe that weighs more than a Chevrolet Suburban SUV, and it’s sufficient to make the Spectre highly entertaining to drive. The battery is a big 102- kilowatt-hour lithium-ion pack shared with the BMW i7, and while an EPA-estimated driving range wasn’t available as of publication, we expect it’ll be at least 260 miles; after I charged it up overnight, the meter showed 280 miles of range. The average owner, of course, is unlikely to drive a Spectre that far between charges; Rolls-Royce says it expects up to 90% of Spectre owners to charge at home rather than fast-charging in, say, a janky Dunkin Donuts parking lot.

What might be most astonishing about the Spectre is just how normal it is to drive — well, if absolutely dead-silent motoring can be considered normal, which for many Rolls-Royce owners, it can. The Spectre is just more of a good Rolls-Royce thing; other Rolls-Royces are nearly silent, but this one is completely silent: No wind noise, zero powertrain whir until you turn on a specially generated electronic noise, very little tire noise. You can barely even hear cars passing you when your windows are up; it’s just a faint whoosh as they zip past. The Spectre redefines isolation — the loudest thing in this car is the climate-control system, which is to say you hear nothing in it. Just enjoy the lovely audio system or waft along in calming silence.

The Spectre is impressive dynamically, but not for its athleticism. The steering isn’t sporty and neither is the ride, but it does feel excellently controlled, which is important for a vehicle this big and heavy. The suspension tuning won’t encourage you to throw the Spectre into twisty curves, but it won’t embarrass itself if you encounter some on your drive between the beach house and mountain cabin. The brakes are powerful, and there’s a “B” button on the transmission stalk to engage much more aggressive regenerative braking, though it’s not quite one-pedal driving. There are no adjustable suspension modes or any kind of Sport mode — that just wouldn’t be proper for a Rolls-Royce. This car is meant to be coddling, confident and solid, and it is. Driving any Rolls-Royce is an experience, but driving this one takes that experience to the next level.

The Shape of Things to Come

We’d better get used to the idea of all-electric Rolls-Royces. This kind of powertrain makes so much sense for these cars, taking luxurious quietness to new heights. It doesn’t need 500 miles of range, either, as most Rolls-Royces are not road-tripped. They’re rarely even daily drivers; these cars are typically used for short jaunts. Rolls-Royce surveyed the people who’ve ordered the Spectre, and 40% were new to the brand. A lot of those buyers said they were waiting for Rolls-Royce to make an EV before they bought one because they wanted something more eco-friendly. I can’t speak to the mental gymnastics it takes to justify buying a $422,000 “eco-friendly” electric car that you’ll drive to the airport to board your Gulfstream jet for a weekend in Santorini, but that’s what some owners said.

A more likely reason for buying an electric Rolls-Royce is the fact that a lot of big global cities are contemplating not allowing gas-powered cars into their city centers in the coming years. Rolls-Royce will be ready for this possibility with an all-EV lineup by 2030, and if the new Spectre is any indication of what’s to come, Rolls-Royce buyers will be absolutely thrilled by just how much more Rolls-Roycey their luxury cars are about to be thanks to electrification.

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Cars.com’s Editorial department is your source for automotive news and reviews. In line with Cars.com’s long-standing ethics policy, editors and reviewers don’t accept gifts or free trips from automakers. The Editorial department is independent of Cars.com’s advertising, sales and sponsored content departments.

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2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre Points the Ultrasilent Way Forward for Rolls

The massive battery-powered coupe proves that for Rolls, the EV future is nothing to fear.

A New Order of Quietude

This isn't a foregone conclusion. That all electric vehicles are inherently and equally silent is as incorrect as it is oft repeated. While it's true that electric motors tend to generate far less noise than internal-combustion engines, especially under high loads, that's only one of the three primary sources of racket. As for the other two—noise propagating up from the road and the vehicle slicing through the surrounding air—EVs have no particular advantage.

But the Spectre is so silent that to experience it is to ruin every other vehicle, including the rest of the Rolls lineup. At 80 to 90 mph, the slightest ripple of wind starts to nip at the Spectre's side glass. But compared with a ride the next day in a Cullinan SUV , one of the quietest vehicles we've ever measured (62 decibels at a 70-mph cruise), the Spectre is so much quieter that we thought one of the Cullinan's windows might be slightly open.

Driving the Spectre

The company's first EV is about far more than just a lack of noise, however. Its tires roll so frictionlessly over smooth roads that you could believe you're hovering over the road, although sharp impacts ground those thoughts and serve as a reminder of the weight of the 23-inch wheels and 32-inch-tall Pirelli P Zero PZ4 Elect tires. The rolling smoothness is why we think the Spectre should have a coasting mode, which would continue the otherworldly feeling of effortlessness. Instead, there's a modest amount of default regen, with a B button on the spindly column shifter to increase regenerative braking to the point that it will bring the car to a stop without a touch of the brake pedal, which is a bit long of travel in an attempt to guarantee smoothness. Other than that, the Spectre has no selectable drive-mode settings, an approach we wholeheartedly agree with—offer a single excellent tune without giving drivers numerous ways to screw it up. For the same reason, there are no audio settings. The only other choice relating to the powertrain is a Rolls-Royce noise that scales with motor output; it sounds like an ominous futuristic storm that's a considerable distance away. With it off (our preference), the motors are perfectly silent. They're also plenty strong, although acceleration isn’t bonkers by today's EV standards. Still, a rush to 60 mph in the low-four-second range roughly matches the performance of the brand's V-12 models.

Those front and rear current-excited synchronous motors are borrowed from parent company BMW. There's a 255-hp motor in the front and the more powerful 483-hp rear unit from the iX M60 and the i7 M70 . The 102.0-kWh battery pack is also shared with BMW and uses the same cells from CATL. Peak output is 577 horsepower and 664 pound-feet, all but equal to the latest twin-turbo V-12 in the Phantom sedan. Ayoubi says the Spectre uses nearly 400 pounds of sound-deadening materials, as in other Rolls-Royces, and the 1543-pound battery pack is another effective noise blanket.

Integrating the large battery pack into the aluminum Architecture of Luxury was done deftly—the front seats sit just 0.8 inch higher and the rears 1.2 inches higher than those in the 2009 Phantom Coupe , which served as the Spectre's muse. The pack also is a major contributor to the claimed 30 percent increase in torsional rigidity over the Rolls-Royce Ghost. That the Spectre is only about 500 pounds heavier than a Cullinan or an i7 feels like about as big of a weight win as a 6600-pound four-seater can hope for.

A high beltline limits the view from the plush seats, with considerable distractions from the gorgeous leather and wood interior materials. A tap of the vents suggests billet aluminum. Despite the removal of the internal-combustion engine and drivetrain, there's still a central tunnel. The now-familiar Starlight headliner that's dotted with points of light is augmented with a new Starlight Doors option, featuring 4796 additional "stars" in the doors and the adult-size rear-seat area. Or you can go with the traditional and spectacular wood paneling. Once you've taken it all in and get on with the business of driving, you'll find that the Rolls-typical steering wheel, thin rimmed and large diameter, is light in effort but very precise. In a pleasant surprise, it passes along subtle road feedback. Over large swells in the road, the Spectre can be slightly too floaty front to back, but body roll is well controlled. The forward view of the Spectre stuffing its lane makes it feel as massive as it is, but the four-wheel steering and active anti-roll bars let it drive far smaller. At no point when chucking the Spectre through a series of switchbacks at a pace totally unbecoming of its laid-back mission does it fall apart. When you finally must depart the cabin, hang on after a second pull of the door handle, and the door powers open, pulling you along with it.

Design Continuity

Nothing about the Spectre's arresting presence shouts about the sea change in propulsion, and that's deliberate. The brand's customers are not interested in a stylistic departure as Rolls-Royce transitions all its models to electric propulsion by 2030. Therefore, the long hood and generous dash-to-axle ratio remain, although there's not much to be seen under the hood save for a massive metal cover. The only bit that underwhelms is the oversize charge-port cover. Rolls reshaped and optimized every surface above and on the underside, leading to contribute to an impressive 0.25 coefficient of drag (versus 0.36 for the Phantom Coupe). Even the Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament that powers out of the front of the hood contributes, now crouching slightly lower with her flowing robes more extended. The grille slats are mostly closed off since cooling air isn’t needed. At nearly five feet long, the rear-hinged coach doors are the longest Rolls has ever produced, which is why they get a secondary stabilizing latch.

The company says research with potential owners showed that they are almost exclusively interested in charging at home and that the Spectre’s estimated 260 miles of EPA range is sufficient. Those traveling farther would likely choose a different vehicle from their personal fleet—one that isn’t ground-bound. Nevertheless, the Spectre has DC fast-charging capability with a claimed 195-kW peak.

Pricing starts at $422,750, but with a seemingly endless amount of customization possible, the company says it expects most of the vehicles to transact above $500,000. Rolls says 40 percent of those who have ordered a Spectre are new to the brand, and the first year of production, roughly 2500 cars, is already sold out. Deliveries start in November 2023.

The Spectre is that most wonderfully irrational vehicle—a massive, BMW 7-series–sized behemoth with just two doors. It both feels familiar yet represents the ultrasilent way forward for Rolls-Royce.

Specifications

2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre Vehicle Type: front- and rear-motor, all-wheel-drive, 4-passenger, 2-door coupe

PRICE Base: $422,750

POWERTRAIN Front Motor: current-excited synchronous AC, 255 hp, 269 lb-ft Rear Motor: current-excited synchronous AC, 483 hp, 524 lb-ft Combined Power: 577 hp Combined Torque: 664 lb-ft Battery Pack: liquid-cooled lithium-ion, 102.0 kWh Onboard Charger: 22.0 kW Peak DC Fast-Charge Rate: 195 kW Transmissions, F/R: direct-drive

DIMENSIONS Wheelbase: 126.4 in Length: 215.6 in Width: 79.4 in Height: 61.9 in Passenger Volume, F/R: 55/41 ft 3 Trunk Volume: 13 ft 3 Curb Weight ( C/D est): 6600 lb

PERFORMANCE ( C/D EST) 60 mph: 4.2 sec 100 mph: 9.7 sec 1/4-Mile: 12.5 sec Top Speed: 155 mph

EPA FUEL ECONOMY ( C/D EST) Combined/City/Highway: 73/72/75 MPGe Range: 260 mi

Dave VanderWerp has spent more than 20 years in the automotive industry, in varied roles from engineering to product consulting, and now leading Car and Driver 's vehicle-testing efforts. Dave got his very lucky start at C/D by happening to submit an unsolicited resume at just the right time to land a part-time road warrior job when he was a student at the University of Michigan, where he immediately became enthralled with the world of automotive journalism.

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• Rolls-Royce
• Rolls-Royce Spectre

2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre

• All-new super luxury EV from Rolls-Royce
• Coupe body style but longer than a Mercedes EQS
• Twin-motor battery-electric drivetrain makes 577 hp

Rolls-Royces have always been about smooth, near-silent propulsion. Since the brand came under the BMW umbrella in 2003, that has come from a V12 engine. But aside from sentimentality over gasoline, there are few reasons that all-electric power won't improve the characteristic R-R experience. That's where the 2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre EV comes in.

It's a very large ultra-luxury coupe, powered exclusively by a battery-electric drivetrain. In the Rolls-Royce lineup it fits between two V12s, the top-of-the-range Phantom sedan and the Cullinan SUV. It's the first EV that's so luxurious and decadent, and it signifies a major shift in buyer priority among the super-wealthy. They want sustainability, or at least the impression of it. But it's the decadent design and interior furnishing that'll doubtless appeal most. "A Rolls-Royce first, electric second," they say.

The Spectre has electric motors sourced from BMW that are used front and rear. Combined they make 577 horsepower and 664 lb-ft of torque. They're fed by a battery with a capacity of more than 100 kWh. The battery uses the same chemistry as the one in the BMW iX M60 but is a different shape. There's as yet no quoted time for DC fast charging, although if we look at the BMW, it should peak around 200 kW if you can find a charger that powerful.

Rolls-Royce says it expects the Spectre to have an estimated range of 320 miles on a full charge. That's by using the WLTP standard used in Europe. EPA estimates are always a little different, but a range of around 300 miles seems plausible to us.

That power has a three-ton car to shift, so acceleration won't snap your neck. This is not the car for drag-strip battles with a Tesla S. The quoted time for a sprint from 0 to 60 mph is 4.4 seconds. But a Rolls-Royce isn't about violence; the powertrain will be calibrated to allow drivers to move almost imperceptibly from rest and into the traffic. "Waftability," the company calls it. The captain will have to issue a stern command from the bridge before the ship goes full-steam ahead. But when it does, performance will be imperious.

We've yet to drive the Spectre but we do know chassis technology is a strong point. Four-wheel steering is aimed at improving both agility in tight areas and stability at speed. It also has air springs, sophisticated active stabilizer bars and adaptive dampers to provide the best of both ride comfort and handling composure. A forward-facing camera reads the road for curves and bumps and prepares the chassis systems accordingly.

The two doors are rear-hinged, so the driver and front passenger simply walk in. The doors power-close at the touch of a button. As usual for the marque, an umbrella is embedded in the door in case of inclement weather. Dignity for the occupants is everything.

Once inside, they will find modern, almost minimalist decor, but plush and beautifully crafted. A near-limitless choice of colors and textures is available for the trim. One Rolls-Royce signature dish is the Starlight feature in the headliner, literally thousands of illuminated pinpricks like a galaxy. In the Spectre, buyers can choose to have that effect extended to the doors and dash.

Although it's a two-door coupe, the Spectre can accommodate four adults, Rolls-Royce claims. Its 126.4-inch wheelbase is the same as that of a Mercedes-Benz EQS , and it's actually approximately 7 inches longer than the Mercedes when measured nose to tail.

The instruments are beautifully rendered analog dials in a digital screen, and as an advantage, their design and color can complement the trim. Although most other cars have moved to largely touchscreen control, Rolls-Royce maintains significant numbers of beautifully tactile physical knobs and switches. They include those for the climate system and a screen controller that resembles an iDrive unit from BMW. But you'll have to search hard to find any visible components shared with a BMW. Brand differentiation is impressively thorough.

Like any EV, a phone app will remotely show range, charging status and many other features. Rolls-Royce's app also links to human concierge services, too. Driver assist features are comprehensive, but Rolls-Royces are used by most owners as special-occasion cars. So high-level assistance isn't demanded by the drivers, the company says.

The Spectre is a big step for Rolls-Royce, but parent company BMW has electric drive well sewn up, so there's little reason to fear. Besides, range will be more than sufficient because Rolls-Royce owners don't do road trips — they take the jet. Most of all then, the Spectre has to succeed as a Rolls-Royce, which means majestic, hedonistic, smooth-riding and silent. There's no reason to suppose it won't be exactly that.

2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre video

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Rolls-Royce unveils Spectre: What to know about the $413,000 electric car

The Spectre is the first of several EVs coming from the storied marque.

Meet the world's first "ultra luxury electric super coupe."

The $413,000 Rolls-Royce Spectre is not the world's most expensive electric vehicle (that title goes to the $2.4 million Rimac Nevera hypercar ). Nor is it the fastest . Its EPA-estimated range of 260 miles falls short of the industry-leading Lucid Air Grand Touring ($154,000), which gets 516 miles on a full charge.

Yet Rolls-Royce will undoubtedly sell every Spectre, a two-door fastback that seats four, it builds next year at the company's headquarters in Goodwood, England.

"Demand has been incredible. While we haven't even shown Spectre publicly, we have more hard orders already than we had in total for Dawn or Cullinan," Martin Fritsches, president and CEO of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars America, told ABC News, referring to the company's convertible and SUV models. "We have already seen hundreds of our clients visit the Bespoke design studios in Goodwood to start configuring their Spectre commission."

Last year, the 117-year-old brand decided it would cease production of its gas-guzzling, 12-cylinder engines and replace its entire lineup with EVs by 2030. The Spectre, the company's first electric vehicle, will be available starting in late 2023. Bespoke customizations can easily add 20% more in value to the Spectre's MSRP, Fritsches noted.

The 6,559-pound coupe sprints from 0 to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds and delivers 664 ft-lb of torque and 577 horsepower. Designers gave the Spectre 23-inch wheels along with the widest grille ever put on a Rolls-Royce. Even the brand's famous Spirit of Ecstasy mascot got a makeover: The figurine was remodeled to have a lower, more dynamic stance that's also aerodynamic. Moreover, Spectre is the first Rolls to offer Starlight Doors, which add 4,796 illuminated "stars" to the interior.

"Spectre represents the start of our electric era [and] has been under development for many years," Fritsches said. "The prime directive of this project was to ensure that Spectre is a Rolls-Royce first and foremost and happens to be powered as an electric car second."

MORE: Electric vehicles are coming fast and furious. Here's how the new models stack up

Ivan Drury, director of insights at Edmunds, expects the Spectre to be an instant hit for Rolls-Royce, potentially even exceeding demand for the Cullinan SUV , the company's top-selling model.

"There will be a lot of hand-raisers and it will be sold out for years," Drury told ABC News. "The price of these vehicles has no meaning to customers. Rolls-Royce operates on a different level than anyone else -- it has guaranteed sales."

Even a global recession , which some market strategists are predicting this year, would have little if any impact on the company's future sales, according to Michelle Krebs, executive analyst at Cox Automotive.

"Expensive cars have done very well over the last few years and EVs in general are bought by the most affluent people," Krebs told ABC News. "The demographic of customers who buy these vehicles are less affected by the economy."

In 2021, Rolls-Royce delivered a record 5,586 vehicles to clients around the world, a 49% increase from 2020. Rolls-Royce has already sold 4,701 vehicles in the first nine months of 2022, with customer orders extending well into next year, Fritsches said.

The introduction of the Spectre could put pressure on Tesla, the undisputed EV leader, and German carmaker Porsche, which has seen customers rapidly shift to its all-electric Taycan, with sales last year outpacing the brand's venerable 911 sports car. EVS are the fastest-growing auto segment in the U.S., accounting for 6.4% of the total market, up from 2.6% last year, Krebs said. Tesla has reported a 64% rise in sales this year though its stronghold on the market has started to slip with the arrival of more EVs.

General Motors' Cadillac division, however, may be Rolls-Royce's most serious competitor in the ultra-luxe space. Its new $300,000 Celestiq electric concept will lead the brand's electric future and become Cadillac's new flagship vehicle, according to company executives. Like the Spectre, the Celestiq will be hand-built, handcrafted and customized to owners' discerning specifications. It arrives by 2025.

MORE: Silver or white? No way. More drivers are demanding customization

Dan Pund, executive editor of Road & Track, said EVs present a new challenge to high-end automakers: how to stand out when the number of cylinders and driving engagement no longer matters.

"Powertrain is not the differentiating factor anymore -- styling now is so important," Pund told ABC News.

As for Rolls-Royce's electric ambitions, Pund said customers can anticipate the same level of comfort and luxury they have always sought in the brand.

"It makes sense for them to go electric," he said. "Enormous torque, smooth, quiet rides -- this is what the company is known for."

Fritsches said the Spectre, much like the marque's Black Badge models , will keep the company relevant in an industry that's quickly moving away from gas-powered conveyances.

"We are already seeing newcomers to Rolls-Royce who have been waiting for us to make the commitment to electrification," he said.

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2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre: The First Electric Rolls Is Here

The first electric Rolls has LED “stars” in its doors, is projected to boast 260 miles of range, and will cost around $400k.

Rolls-Royce may not be the first name that comes up when you think forward-thinking or eco-friendly, but it's definitely one of the biggest names in the silent, ultimate comfort arena. And what's more silently comfortable than an EV? The ultra-luxury automaker has unveiled the new Rolls-Royce Spectre , the brand's very first electric model. It's a stately two-door four-seater that's said to be a spiritual successor to Phantom Coupe , which went out of production in 2016.

RR is very excited about this venture not just because the instant torque, "imperceptible" running gear, and 1,500-pound floor-mounted battery/sound deadening of the electric Spectre fits the Rolls-Royce ethos quite well, but also because it fulfills a 122-year-old prophecy made by one of its founders, Charles Rolls.

"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," Rolls apparently said way back in the year 1900.

Onto the headline specs. The company is projecting 260 miles of EPA-cycle range while 577 horsepower and 664 lb-ft of torque take the Spectre from zero to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds. That said, all those figures are preliminary estimates and subject to change since Rolls-Royce says it is still in the final stages of fine-tuning.

It all rides on a purpose-built, aluminum platform called—and I'm not making this up—the "Architecture of Luxury." The Spectre is said to be 30% stiffer than any Rolls-Royce before it. Four-wheel steering is onboard as is active "planar" suspension that can decouple the anti-roll bars for independent movement and contribute to the vehicle's Magic Carpet Ride.

The rest of it, too, is typical Rolls-Royce . Apparently inspired by yachts, the Spectre's exterior design features doors that open from the front and contain umbrellas. Split headlights flank what the company claims is its widest grille yet, while said grille is softly lit up by 22 LEDs. By now, you've probably heard of Rolls' Starlight headliner. Now get ready for the Spectre's Starlight Doors, which add another 4,796 simulated stars to the sides of the cabin to make you feel like you're actually driving through space rather than just staring up at it.

The famous Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament has been redesigned and contributes to the Spectre being the most aerodynamic RR ever. 23-inch wheels are said to be the biggest wheels to come on a production two-door car from the factory in the last 100 years or so.

In terms of overall scale, the Spectre is likely a bit bigger than you might assume. It's about half a foot longer and wider overall than Rolls-Royce's other two-door, the Wraith . The Spectre is, of course, shorter than the four-door Phantom but, believe it or not, is actually wider than that car by a couple of inches.

Final pricing is TBA, but the automaker says the Spectre will be positioned between the Cullinan SUV and its Phantom flagship sedan, so expect it to start somewhere in the $400,000 ballpark. First deliveries are scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2023.

As for future Rolls-Royce EVs, the Spectre is only the beginning since the company aims to have its entire lineup be electric by 2030.

Got a tip or question for the author about the Rolls-Royce Spectre? You can reach him here: [email protected]

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Rolls-Royce Spectre Debuts As Brand's First Production EV With 260-Mile Range

The spectre is just the beginning - the marque wants to become fully electric by the end of the decade..

Back in July this year, Rolls-Royce told us its first production electric vehicle was about 40 percent complete at the time. The Spectre as it is officially known now receives its full unveiling as the luxury brand’s debut battery-powered model heralding the beginning of the all-electric era for Rolls-Royce. First customer deliveries are expected in the fourth quarter of next year.

The EV tech advancement has made it possible for RR to adopt a zero-emissions powertrain in the Spectre as there’s finally a standard that “can deliver the iconic Rolls-Royce experience” and even enhance it. The company’s mission is to become fully electric by the end of the decade and it believes the instant torque, silent running, and “the sense of one imperceptible gear” perfectly fit its own virtues.

This is the Rolls-Royce Spectre, RR's first fully-electric car

Rolls-Royce's new electrified era begins with "an emotional car"; one as important as the original Silver Ghost

There can hardly be a more suitable drive for a Rolls-Royce than electric motors. CS Rolls himself said it in 1900: "The electric car is perfectly noiseless and clean. There is no smell or vibration." Although, presciently, he did add that he had infrastructure concerns. After 120 years of trying, no petrol Rolls-Royce has a powertrain as smooth or silent or responsive as that of a 2011 Nissan Leaf . Or perhaps more relevant a 2015 Tesla Model X – a powerful, heavy, car that goes a long way and charges fast. But this is changing: in a year's time, this rather fabulous all-electric Spectre will land with its first customers. So Top Gear asks Rolls-Royce's boss, Torsten Müller-Ötvös the obvious question: what kept you? His reply is emphatic. "The customers always said: it has to be a Rolls-Royce first, electric second."

Rolls-Royce knows those customers intimately. After all, even though their numbers keep growing, there still aren't that many of them. Müller-Ötvös has been asking them for a decade what they think about EVs. "In comparison between where the clients were and now, it has changed massively. On average they own seven cars and many already own an electric car. The feedback on electric propulsion in general is very positive." So the Spectre doesn't have to introduce them to the idea of a charge cable instead of a hose of explosive liquid.

Photography: Mark Fagelson

Rolls-Royce even made a demo project in 2011, a converted Phantom called 102EX . I still remember driving it. It was a Rolls-Royce squared: silent, smooth, wafty. "This fits perfectly what the brand stands for. We are not defined by engine noise or a loud exhaust." But the 102EX's range was as short as its charging time was long. "Ten years ago it wasn't that the clients weren't prepared to go for it. The technology wasn't at the right level – battery, propulsion, even more importantly the software. It now is, in a quality that allows us to build a Rolls-Royce. There is no compromise. It allows a bigger car, space, sufficient range, and the right charging. And modern software making it easy to use and interactive. Also, I was not in for the compromise of converting a combustion car."

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Much to our delight, the first electric Rolls-Royce is a coupe, not some gallumphing SUV. "The Spectre is as important for us as the Silver Ghost." Since the 40/50HP Ghost came out in 1906, he presumably doesn't say this lightly. "This is the beginning of a new era for Rolls-Royce and it needs a celebration. A fastback coupe is an emotional car." Its job is effectively to replace the spectacular Phantom Coupe, absent from the range since 2016.

The Spectre is absolutely a full-size Rolls-Royce. I mean, really big. Those wheels are 23 inches in diameter, a size that can make a Range Rover look like a Golf. It will do 320 miles (WLTP) on a charge. Of course drag matters, and BMW's expertise via endless CFD and tunnel hours have got them down to a Cd of 0.25. Great work chaps, but look at the size of it. It's still going to take a lot of pushing through the air. Then there's the 2,975kg unladen mass to think of. Even so, the Spectre claims 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds. That's what motors front and back totalling 585bhp and 664lb ft can do for you.

But most of all, it's a fabulously decadent thing.

As well as acting like a Rolls-Royce, the Spectre has to look like one. It's certainly got the face, that Greek Temple grille and Spirit of Ecstasy mascot. Except not quite the usual ones. The grille is the widest ever on a Rolls-Royce. But it's largely impervious to air, because there's no V12 to cool, and the priority is reducing turbulent drag. Its vanes are downlit at night for extra rolling theatre. Meanwhile, sitting at its apex is a new interpretation of the image of Eleanor Thornton, leaning more forward into the breeze. Either side are split headlights, last seen on the Phantom Coupe. Their upper blades are permanently lit, and below them the main headlights loom out of an enigmatic smokey darkness.

The body's surfaces are utterly confident. Look around at all the cars that have such relatively flat surfaces and few feature lines. You realise it's really difficult to do - they mostly look weak and fragile. But the Spectre's planes are just so , and the effect is of a car of monolithic strength. The very few lines that do exist are knife-sharp, but because of the surface strength it looks like a solid block of carved metal, rather than what it actually is, mere bent sheet. The chrome decor has the same effect, like hewn and polished mass. Those door handles could have come off a bank vault.

Go ahead, pull the handle. As per Rolls practice, the doors are rear hinged, so you just walk in and out. As with the outside, the interior is really Rollsy. But better. No-one else does it like this. Every Rolls-Royce since the Goodwood era began in 2003 has worn this confident simplicity, a kind of furniture that owes little to conventional automotive vernacular. Owners will recognise the tactile physical climate controls and iDrive controller. For the first time the instruments are rendered on a screen, albeit still mercifully simulating analog dials. But they're configurable in colour to match the fabrics and leathers the buyer has commissioned.

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Pretty wild decor in this photo car eh? The seats have what Rolls is calling a lapel, a dart of upholstery that gives another option for contrast detailing. The doors can be had with either the 'Starlight' feature, the – count 'em – 4,796 little bright dots. Or you can go for vast panels of wood. A companion starlit panel covers the passenger's-side dashboard too.

It's a full four-seater. "Not a 2+2," Müller-Ötvös stresses. Space is a luxury, and you might want to bring friends. But this is a coupe and likely it won't be chauffeur-driven. So how will owners use it? He points out they have seven cars on average. This isn't a commuter car for them. They drive it for the occasional trip, entertainment, a night out, or just "going for a spin". I once drove a Phantom Coupe down to the far end of France in a day. I can think of no better car for the job, but still, it meant an in-no-way luxurious early start and too many petrol-station snacks. An actual Rolls-Royce owner wouldn't do that. They'd stop at the Hotel Chateau de Posh on the way, and of course they'd find an electric charger there. They have a charger at home, and one at work. And so on. Which means the Spectre's range, some 320 miles WLTP, is surely going to be more than enough. Or, to redeploy an early Rolls-Royce word, sufficient. "Owners don't drive in one go from London to Edinburgh. Our cars were never about range." A V12 Rolls-Royce won't go as far as 320 miles, "and nobody ever asked us for a bigger petrol tank".

The interior is really Rollsy. But better. No-one else does it like this

The battery uses BMW's latest cell type, but the pack is uniquely shaped to fit the Spectre's floor. The motors too come from BMW, the EESM type that use no rare earth metals and are efficient at high speeds. The Spectre's structure is a version of the unique-to-Goodwood aluminium architecture. Pure-electric propulsion was part of the brief when they conceived that, before they first launched it in the Phantom. The Spectre uses air springs, resonators to quell wheel vibrations, adaptive dampers, variable roll stiffness and four-wheel steering. But it's not the hardware they're most proud of, it's the algorithms that control it all, and until we try it out we can't know how well that has all been calibrated.

The price of all this is 'between the Cullinan and Phantom' which means a third of a million pounds – going from there on a skyward trajectory of commissioned options.

So I ask Müller-Ötvös about the profit. He says he can now make an electric car for same cost as a V12 car. Right there is another significant reason they didn't do it earlier, as he points out it's bad business to sell someone an EV that makes less money than the V12 it's substituting for. So I suspect the timing of the Spectre's arrival isn't just about the technology becoming available. I have more faith in the engineers at BMW and RR: they could surely have done it before. They just didn't need to. As the boss points out, Rolls-Royce has been selling more and more petrol cars every year. "There was no need to rush."

Now the time has come. Buyers want an electric car, and it'll make money. Most of all, it's doable to Rolls-Royce's standards. Indeed, by the look of it, possibly even better than that.

Length x width x height : 5,453mm x 2,080mm x 1,559mm Wheelbase : 3,210mm Kerb weight : 2,975 kg Power : 585bhp Torque : 664lb ft Acceleration : 0-62mph 4.5 seconds Range : 320 miles

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I tested an electric and a gas-powered Rolls-Royce — and I think the $420,000 Spectre EV is the one to buy for a simple reason

• I drove two Rolls-Royces: a traditional gas-powered one and a new electric model. 
• The electric Spectre takes Rolls-Royce comfort and quietness to the next level. 
• The gas-powered Ghost sedan is fabulous too, featuring an extravagant interior. 

Rolls-Royce has launched its very first electric car, the Spectre, presenting the world's royalty, oil tycoons, and crypto billionaires with a conundrum they've never faced before: to EV or not to EV?

Up until now, no electric cars were really exclusive or extravagant enough for society's highest rollers. Any moderately successful dentist can buy a $100,000 Tesla Model S, which isn't very luxurious to begin with. The $420,000 Spectre is in a league all on its own. 

Most Rolls-Royce buyers don't actually have to choose between a combustion-engined or battery-powered model. (The company says its customers own seven vehicles on average.) But at an event marking the Spectre's launch I drove it and a gas-fueled Ghost sedan (worth around $400,000) to see how they stack up. 

They're both spectacular in almost every way, but there's one key reason I think the Spectre is the ultimate Rolls-Royce. 

Disclosure: Rolls-Royce got me a discounted rate at a nice hotel and kept me fed while I tested the Spectre at a press event in California. 

This isn't exactly an apples-to-apples comparison, since the Spectre is a coupe and the Ghost is a larger, four-door sedan.

But I wanted to see how Rolls-Royce's first electric model is similar to — and different from — its classic V12-powered vehicles.

The cars have a ton in common. And that was the point.

Again and again, Rolls-Royce executives said that they wanted the Spectre to be "a Rolls-Royce first and an electric car second."

Rolls-Royce customers know what they like, and they didn't want the brand to reinvent the wheel.

Read more: I got chauffeured in a $500,000 Rolls-Royce and saw firsthand how nice life is for the .1%

So the cars are actually quite similar in overall feel, despite the differences in fuel source.

Both cabins are chock-full of high-dollar materials and jaw-dropping craftsmanship.

Rolls-Royce didn't fill its first EV with lots of screens and gizmos. Instead, it leaned on what it does best: elegant design and extreme attention to detail.

In both cars, I was surrounded by acres of buttery-smooth leather.

Likewise, both had striking bits of actual wood and copious amounts of real metal that was cold to the touch.

The Ghost was done up in somewhat of a Halloween theme, which I dug.

Read more: You may never need to plug in your electric car again

Both offered the driver and passengers a dazzling assortment of satisfying knobs and switches.

The fan-speed dials, for example, were leather-wrapped.

A central knob for controlling the screen prominently displayed the iconic, winged Spirit of Ecstasy symbol.

In both cars, the doors could close at the press of a button, so neither the driver nor any passengers need to lift a finger.

Both cars have classy digital gauges that look nearly identical to regular, analog dials.

Both were outfitted with Rolls' optional twinkling headliner that mimics a starry night sky.

Read more: Tesla vs Rivian: How the fresh EV startup compares to the electric-car giant

The Spectre introduces a new option that also adds glimmering stars to the inside of the doors.

The biggest difference inside the Ghost and Spectre, of course, is the number of seats. The Ghost comfortably seats five, while the Spectre limits things to four.

So how do they both drive? I did things a bit backward and drove the newer model first.

As soon as I pulled out on the road, I was struck by how impossibly serene the Spectre felt in motion.

It wasn’t just quiet — it was practically silent. Even at highway speeds, there was no wind noise, making the experience extra soothing.

Electric motors — since they rely on magnetism and current instead of tiny explosions to function — are super quiet. So that helps.

And Rolls-Royce says it cleverly positioned the large, under-floor battery to help deaden sound even more.

Plus, thanks to an advanced air suspension, the Spectre floated smoothly down the road like a hovercraft.

Most EVs with over 500 horsepower leap forward with dizzying force every time you hit the accelerator. That's part of what makes them so fun.

But Rolls made sure the Spectre matched the gentle — yet substantial — power delivery of its other cars.

It was, without a doubt, the most tranquil, relaxing driving experience I've ever had.

The Ghost was a very close second.

Just as Rolls-Royce intended, the driving experience was nearly identical.

The Ghost was library-quiet and coasted down the road with unparalleled smoothness and effortlessness.

The biggest difference between the two was the sound and vibration of the Ghost's V12 up front.

During normal driving, the engine was barely perceptible, despite having 563 horsepower.

When I gave it the beans — particularly in the more aggressive "Low" setting — the engine roared to life, filling the cabin with an intoxicating rumble.

The noise was fun. No doubt about it. But the silence felt more special, more luxurious. And that's what a Rolls-Royce is all about.

The brand's CEO, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, agrees, telling me in an interview: "What you experienced in Spectre is even the next league of driving a Rolls-Royce. Because now it is super silent."

"It is silent propulsion in its most fantastic form," he added. "And it brings it, for me, even closer to that vision of flight on land."

Good news for anyone intrigued by the idea of an electric Rolls but desiring a little more space: Rolls-Royce plans to make only electric vehicles after 2030.

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Rolls-Royce Spectre EV is revealed, and it's production-bound

Battery-powered coupe fulfills founder charles rolls' 'prophecy' for electric cars.

• Rolls-Royce Spectre

Rolls-Royce has formally announced plans to introduce a battery-electric coupe. Dubbed Spectre, the British super-luxe automaker's first EV will begin deliveries in late 2023, which has now become a key milestone in Rolls-Royce's roadmap to full electrification by the end of the decade.

Apart from the name and layout, Rolls is being stingy with specifics, telling us only that, despite what appears to be a somewhat familiar silhouette, this is an all-new model built on the company's latest architecture, like Phantom , Ghost and Cullinan . Spectre is not merely a derivative of the Wraith , RR says.

And with good reason, because Wraith was engineered around the essence of its V12. Spectre's character, we expect, will be defined by its near-silent, vibration-free electric powertrain, which makes for a very different acoustic backdrop, but that's a challenge Rolls-Royce engineers are prepared – arguably even predestined – to overcome.

Even more than a century ago, both Charles Rolls and Sir Henry Royce were fascinated by electric powertrains. The automaker even shared some of Rolls' impressions of an EV he drove in April 1900 from Connecticut-based manufacturer Columbia : 

"The electric car is perfectly noiseless and clean," he noted. "There is no smell or vibration, and they should become very useful when fixed charging stations can be arranged. But for now, I do not anticipate that they will be very serviceable – at least for many years to come."

"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," said Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös. 

"Charles Rolls’ prophecy has been the subject of constant consideration during the marque’s Goodwood era," he said. "But we have not been satisfied that available technology could support the Rolls-Royce experience. Until now."

If there's any coherent theme to the message coming from Rolls-Royce, it's that the company intends to do right by its first EV. To that end,it  says it will develop Spectre "in plain sight," holding it to some of the most stringent development requirements of any vehicle that has carried the Spirit of Ecstasy. 

"To do this, we have conceived the most demanding testing programme in Rolls-Royce’s history. We will cover 2.5 million kilometres – a simulation of more than 400 years of use for a Rolls-Royce, on average – and we will travel to all four corners of the world to push this new motor car to the limit," Müller-Ötvös said. "This is not a prototype. It’s the real thing." 

That's all Rolls-Royce has for us, at least for the time being, but if the above promise is to be believed, we expect to see plenty more of the Spectre before it's ready for prime time. Stay tuned. 

Related video:

Featured Gallery Rolls-Royce Spectre EV

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Rolls-Royce Spectre

100.0 kWh * Useable Battery

455 km * Real Range

220 Wh/km * Efficiency

This electric vehicle is not available yet

24, 25 & 26 November at RAI Amsterdam Use code EVDATA to get 20% discount!

Available to order, real range estimation between 335 - 640 km.

(Advertisement)

Performance

Home / destination, fast charging, bidirectional charging (v2x), vehicle-to-load (v2l), vehicle-to-home (v2h), vehicle-to-grid (v2g), energy consumption, evdb real range, wltp ratings, real energy consumption estimation between 156 - 299 wh/km, dimensions and weight, miscellaneous, home and destination charging (0 -> 100%).

Charging is possible by using a regular wall plug or a charging station. Public charging is always done through a charging station. How fast the EV can charge depends on the charging station (EVSE) used and the maximum charging capacity of the EV. The table below shows all possible options for charging the Rolls-Royce Spectre. Each option shows how fast the battery can be charged from empty to full.

NOTE: Rolls-Royce has not released details about the on-board charger of the Spectre. The information below is based on estimatation of the most likely on-board charger.

Charging an EV in Europe differs by country. Some European countries primarily use 1-phase connections to the grid, while other countries are almost exclusively using a 3-phase connection. The table below shows all possible ways the Rolls-Royce Spectre can be charged, but some modes of charging might not be widely available in certain countries.

† = Limited by on-board charger, vehicle cannot charge faster.

Fast Charging (10 -> 80%)

Rapid charging enables longer journeys by adding as much range as possible in the shortest amount of time. Charging power will decrease significantly after 80% state-of-charge has been reached. A typical rapid charge therefore rarely exceeds 80% SoC. The rapid charge rate of an EV depends on the charger used and the maximum charging power the EV can handle. The table below shows all details for rapid charging the Rolls-Royce Spectre.

Rolls-Royce has not released details about rapid charging the Spectre. The information below is based on estimated values of the most likely rapid charging capabilities.

• Max. Power: maximum power provided by charge point
• Avg. Power: average power provided by charge point over a session from 10% to 80%
• Time: time needed to charge from 10% to 80%
• Rate: average charging speed over a session from 10% to 80%

† = Limited by charging capabilities of vehicle

Actual charging rates may differ from data shown due to factors like outside temperature, state of the battery and driving style.

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HP Spectre Fold Review: Worse Than the Sum of Its Parts

The spectre fold is a laptop, tablet, and desktop pc, but it doesn't do any of those better than a device that comes much, much cheaper..

If I get my hands on a $5,000 foldable laptop, I have certain expectations for it. It’s got to have power, speed, and portability. The last thing on my mind is whether or not the thing is easy to open and close. However, this was the case when I first tried to crack open HP’s new Spectre Fold 3-in-1, which pretty much set the tone for the rest of my time with the device.

The Spectre Fold is HP’s attempt to scale the foldable design to a laptop-sized product. The first time I tried to pry the foldable apart I realized there were no gaps to stick my fingers into. Instead, I needed to shove my fingernails in between the internal keyboard and top screen and pry them apart like the jaws of life. So much excellent engineering went into this luxury-priced folding laptop, but I wonder if they couldn’t have created a notch to stick my fingers in?

With all the talk about foldable phones , there may be room for a thin laptop that becomes a tablet, which becomes a desktop. Lenovo tried a very similar thing back in 2020 with the X1 Fold , though that was much smaller and thicker than HP’s design, with a starting price of $2,500. Then there was Asus with their ZenBook 17 Fold OLED that tried and couldn’t quite manage to achieve the fabled 3-in-1 dream at $3,500. HP has managed to implement a lot of smart design decisions that have realized some of Lenovo’s initial promises, such as the flattened battery (for better weight distribution) and minimal crease on such a large screen. But while HP’s $5,000 rendition of the foldable design is thinner and more robust than any other attempt so far, this isn’t the realization of the foldable promise. It’s an iteration, one that needs further refinement.

I’m a fan of the Spectre’s design—it’s truly a great proof of concept—but nothing ever works like expected for the end user. When it’s not a small laptop, it’s a somewhat finicky, oversized tablet. When it’s not a tablet, it’s a comparatively low-end desktop PC.

The actual foldable part of the screen is solid, and it has a less noticeable crease than some other foldable devices I’ve tried. Yet the software can’t keep up. Snapping apps to portions of the screen isn’t a smooth experience. The device is also not nearly as powerful as other devices priced $2,000 less than HP’s 3-in-1. It feels like an over-expensive prototype that hopefully may be perfected in time.

Who Needs a 17-inch Tablet?

There’s a lot to like about the Spectre . It’s a compact if somewhat heavy, laptop when shut tight, but there’s practically no seem or hole thanks to the U-shaped fold that fits snugly around the thin keyboard. The keyboard is charged through wireless induction coils when attached to the laptop, and both the touchpad and keyboard are very responsive, considering its thin footprint. Additionally, the OLED display on the Spectre is crisp no matter how you use it, though there is still a large crease when using the device that catches the light at odd angles. It is an issue for people like me who find a deep crease distracting.

To give more props to HP, there are some very strong magnets on the Spectre Fold. I never felt like anything would easily come loose during use. The digital pen that comes with the Spectre Fold also does the job, and it similarly attaches via magnet to either the keyboard or the Fold itself for storage or charging. I’ve stuck it in my backpack for over two weeks and never feared losing the pen or keyboard.

The ergonomics of the device are strange, leading to an odd experience whether you’re using it with a shortened or extended screen. In its compact laptop mode, the device feels a bit small, even compared to the minimum-sized Chromebooks I’ve used in the past. It has a 12.3-inch screen, which isn’t enough for most tasks. You can drag the keyboard back toward you slightly and add an extra two inches of display at the bottom, though I struggled to find any app or site that worked well when snapped into that half-screen portion.

When it’s unfurled, the Spectre Fold is massive, with a 17-inch screen and large plastic bezels meant to keep the whole thing intact. I’ve never thought I’d find a tablet that’s simply too big, but the HP Spectre might be it. It’s weighty, too, at nearly 3 pounds without the keyboard. You can’t comfortably lounge in bed and watch Netflix if you have to hold the tablet with two arms. I’m an average-sized dude, and I imagine somebody smaller than me would have to bear hug the tablet to keep it upright when on the couch.

Samsung’s latest premium tablet, the 14.6-inch S9 Ultra , is one of the biggest tablets of its kind on the market. To put that in perspective, the iPad Pro measures 12.9 inches diagonally. We’ve heard rumors of Apple making a 16-inch tablet , but after trying to use HP’s model, I’d be hesitant to go for anything that big.

The HP Spectre Fold Can’t Compete on Power for its Price

When I first wrote the news about the Spectre Fold’s release last month , I wrote that “it screams premium in all directions.” The box has a luxury braided power adapter, a USB to USB-C dongle, and a comfortable digital pen built specifically for HP’s sensitive, foldable touchscreen. At $5,000, no other version of the Spectre comes with more than the standard 16GB of RAM and 1TB internal SSD storage. There are no other color options than the slate gray. HP is telling customers that this is it, take it or leave it.

What you’re not getting for that exorbitant price is hardware power. The Spectre Fold uses a 12th-gen Intel Core i7-1250U with 16GB of RAM. It’s also running an in-built Intel Iris XE graphics, so this is not a graphics powerhouse. Running GeekBench 6, the device performed worse than the budget-minded Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3 . It was a similar story with Cinebench, which calculates a CPU’s power based on how well it renders a scene. It performed moderately well on the single core but failed to match the power of a $750 Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 on the multi-core settings. To compare, the Inspiron is running an AMD Ryzen 5 7530U, another low-power CPU.

And don’t even think you’ll be playing games natively on the HP Spectre Fold. Baldur’s Gate 3 is a slideshow even on the main menu. It completely refused to load Cyberpunk 2077 , and it took over 15 minutes to load the main menu for Halo: Infinite, which is a shader-intensive game . On the 3D Mark Wild Life Extreme benchmark, the Spectre scored better than Dell’s recent 2-in-1 with its mere 8GB of RAM, but it simply can’t hold a candle to other expensive laptops.

If you’re dead set on gaming, download Geforce Now or another game streaming service for the $5,000 Spectre Fold . At the same time, it also means HP’s 3-in-1 won’t have much strength in the video processing department either. You can run Photoshop and draw with the magnetically attached e-pen, which works well enough. But don’t think you’re doing much else besides usual workplace tasks. Otherwise, the Spectre relies on the cloud for everything else.

Windows 11 Doesn’t Always Agree With HP’s UI

Foldables are inherently designed for multitasking. It’s why the snappable windows are such a battleground in the foldable market and why the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the new OnePlus Open have an edge over the Pixel Fold . Trying to multitask on an expanded screen on the Specter Fold can force the device to chug. I was watching a movie on Netflix and tried to move a separate window around, and the input seemed to lag behind by half a second while dragging it across the screen. Resizing and snapping around different apps and windows using HP’s own Snap interface was slow and occasionally failed to resize windows properly.

Sometimes, I’d boot up the Spectre and find that it would start in tablet mode instead of laptop mode. In most cases, the laptop would reorient itself, but in some instances, I had to remove the keyboard and put it back on before it recognized its mode.

The Spectre Fold isn’t designed for gaming or much hardcore use besides work. Of course, you could load up Xbox Game Pass or GeForce Now on it to take advantage of the large, portable screen, but at this price point, you could get an expensive gaming laptop or gaming PC. Hell, you could get both and have more power to run that and many other graphically intensive programs.

And with any foldable, there may be some things you simply cannot fix. The device isn’t dust-resistant. It tells you that straight up, and if you put your keyboard down on a tabletop, dust, dirt, or wayward crumbs might hitch a ride back with you when the Spectre is folded back up. It’s something that concerned me the entire time I was using it.

But let’s face it, you’re probably not buying the Spectre Fold. This is for someone who has money to burn and wants to show a unique piece of tech to their fellow execs or rich friends. It’s better to think of the Spectre as a stepping stone to what might come next. Hopefully, the next big iteration comes with a price tag we peasants can even hope to afford.

Introducing

The marque’s first fully electric car. arriving 2023..

Rolls-Royce has always sought names that are ethereal and otherworldly for its most authoritative and powerful cars. Eery names like Ghost, Phantom, Wraith, Shadow and Spirit have, over the years, developed a unique nomenclature that sets Rolls-Royce’s apart, as an untouchable, almost unattainable rarity.

The emotions evoked by such mysterious names are of slight unease and heightened apprehension.  Humans are naturally anxious about ghostly apparitions which inhabit an inexplicable environment which is not of this world.  These phantasms seem like illusions – they are there, but not there, ephemeral in their rarity, totally silent as they pass through our life-space, fleeting in their appearances and gone in a whisp of time.  And when they transit through our world, they create a sense of wonderment and a belief that we have encountered something untethered to our existence, an anomalous apparition.

This forceful alternative reality is fearful, but intriguing; threatening, yet attracting; beyond understanding, yet we lust after it.  And only a few of us, indeed only a select, bold few, can cross the divide and command these transient, spectral beings to heel.  

Spectre encapsulates this atmosphere to perfection.  It evokes an omen or portent of great magnitude — it presages a fundamental change in our familiar earthly matrix.  Rolls-Royce, the most revered and historic name in the history of luxury and automotive endeavour, is imminently about to introduce an electric car.

The name suits the car perfectly. A silent, menacing creation. Powerful and edgy, but in profile, smooth, sleek and elegant.   

Spectre is no longer an illusion but exists in the here and now.

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