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.

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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