Rolls-Royce Spectre
Rolls-Royce fights the habit of 120 years and launches its first electric car The Rolls-Royce Spectre is the super-luxury car company’s first electric vehicle. But if you think electric cars are a modern phenomenon, remember that when company founders Charles Rolls and Henry Royce met, electric cars were very much in vogue. In 1899 the world’s fastest car was electric, central London was abuzz with electric carriages and in 1900 a third of all cars in the US were electric.One of the first briefs for Rolls-Royce cars was, in fact, to produce a combustion-engined vehicle that would be as quiet, smooth and easy to use as an electric one, without the charging and range limitations that kept EVs for ‘town carriage’ use.Over the following century Rolls-Royce virtually perfected the art, with its very latest V12s from today’s Phantom and Ghost being some of the world’s quietest, smoothest and most compelling luxury powerplants.But with the world once more ready for EVs, in 2023 Rolls-Royce launched the Spectre, a super-luxury coupé and its first EV, which it followed in 2025 with the Black Badge edition for more “subversive” customers who want a bit of additional edge. Not only is it electric, but the Black Badge edition is also the most powerful car Rolls-Royce has ever made.At the time of writing, we’ve fully road tested a regular Spectre in the UK, including a set of performance and economy figures, weights and measurements, and more briefly driven a Black Badge edition overseas.The range at a glanceModelsPowerFromGhost563bhp£278,055Cullinan563bhp£312,855Spectre577bhp£332,055Phantom563bhp£417,255Rolls-Royce would tell you that deals with ‘uniquely commissioned’ models rather than having a range, but there are two Spectre models: the regular car (not that it would refer to it in such prosaic terms) and the Black Badge edition.It’s interesting to see where the car slots in to Rolls’ wider line-up. Filling the space left by the Phantom coupé, it is priced above both the Ghost saloon and Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUV (although both the Ghost and Phantom are offered as EWB), with power to trump its range-mates.
Rolls-Royce fights the habit of 120 years and launches its first electric car
The Rolls-Royce Spectre is the super-luxury car company’s first electric vehicle. But if you think electric cars are a modern phenomenon, remember that when company founders Charles Rolls and Henry Royce met, electric cars were very much in vogue. In 1899 the world’s fastest car was electric, central London was abuzz with electric carriages and in 1900 a third of all cars in the US were electric.One of the first briefs for Rolls-Royce cars was, in fact, to produce a combustion-engined vehicle that would be as quiet, smooth and easy to use as an electric one, without the charging and range limitations that kept EVs for ‘town carriage’ use.Over the following century Rolls-Royce virtually perfected the art, with its very latest V12s from today’s Phantom and Ghost being some of the world’s quietest, smoothest and most compelling luxury powerplants.But with the world once more ready for EVs, in 2023 Rolls-Royce launched the Spectre, a super-luxury coupé and its first EV, which it followed in 2025 with the Black Badge edition for more “subversive” customers who want a bit of additional edge. Not only is it electric, but the Black Badge edition is also the most powerful car Rolls-Royce has ever made.At the time of writing, we’ve fully road tested a regular Spectre in the UK, including a set of performance and economy figures, weights and measurements, and more briefly driven a Black Badge edition overseas.The range at a glanceModelsPowerFromGhost563bhp£278,055Cullinan563bhp£312,855Spectre577bhp£332,055Phantom563bhp£417,255Rolls-Royce would tell you that deals with ‘uniquely commissioned’ models rather than having a range, but there are two Spectre models: the regular car (not that it would refer to it in such prosaic terms) and the Black Badge edition.It’s interesting to see where the car slots in to Rolls’ wider line-up. Filling the space left by the Phantom coupé, it is priced above both the Ghost saloon and Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUV (although both the Ghost and Phantom are offered as EWB), with power to trump its range-mates. 
