25 Percent Of 2.5 Million Km Completed, The Rolls Royce Spectre’s Winter Testing

Simulating more than 400 years of use, 25 percent out of a 2.5 million km testing program completed, the all-electric Rolls Royce Spectre’s winter testing.

Temperatures ranging from -26 to -40 degrees centigrade, the marque’s bespoke facility in Arjeplog, Sweden, just 55 km from the Arctic Circle was the proving ground.

Rolls Royce Motor Cars’ chief executive officer, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, commented, “The announcement of every new Rolls Royce motor car carries a great weight of expectation, but the Spectre is unquestionably the most anticipated product in the marque’s modern history. This is because it is much more than a product. It is a symbol for our bright, bold electric future, and it represents a seismic shift in our powertrain technology. It is for this reason that we have created a testing programme that is as significant and historical as the Spectre itself. The extraordinary undertaking of educating the Spectre to think and behave like a Rolls Royce will cover 2.5 million km, which is a simulation of more than 400 years of use for a Rolls Royce. Today, I can confirm that 25 percent of this journey is now complete, and the results have met our most ambitious expectations.”

The Spectre’s Requirements To Graduate

When the first prototypes are built, engineers perform basic tests in extreme conditions to confirm that each system is active and functions at a basic level in a cold weather environment. 

This test is combined with the beginnings of the refinement process, the first ‘lessons’ in a finishing school that form the foundations of a motor car worthy of the marque.

Notably, this begins with processes that are common to the automotive industry such as noise, vibration and harshness tests.

Factors affecting this range from the materials used for major hardware fittings to the density of door rubbers, bushing compounds, fastening materials and even properties of bonding agents. 

Plus, performance of these variables can change considerably when under extreme temperatures, likewise, the efficiency of the motor car’s heating, ventilation, air conditioning and cooling systems.

Other than that, there is an additional component of winter testing that is of great importance to Rolls Royce.

Called ‘de-escalated time’, it aids the accuracy and control in creating the Rolls Royce experience using the Spectre’s chassis control systems, powertrain management and electronics control.

For instance, by driving on low traction surfaces like winter terrains, and wilfully destabilising the Spectre, the engineers can create dynamic settings at low speeds that usually occur at high speeds. 

Said process finesses and enhances the vehicle performance in areas such as the handling, controllability, stability, predictability and ‘waftability’.

Generally, de-escalated time enables engineers to create unparalleled detail in the motor car’s response, in turn schooling the Spectre to think, behave and communicate like a Rolls Royce should.

The Spectre Is Rolls Royce 3.0

Signifying the start of a bold electric future, ‘Rolls Royce 3.0’ references the marque’s progress during its renaissance, which began in Goodwood, West Sussex on January 1, 2003.

To begin with, the first Goodwood Rolls Royce was the Phantom, and it was underpinned by its own bespoke architecture. This was Rolls Royce 1.0. 

Ensuing that, a new, highly flexible all-aluminium spaceframe architecture was conceived that could be adapted for multiple applications. 

Significantly, as seen on the current Phantom, Cullinan, Ghost and Coachbuild projects. This was Rolls Royce 2.0. 

Now, it transitions into the integration of a fully electric powertrain and Decentralised Intelligence into the marque’s architecture. The Rolls Royce 3.0.

At which, the meaning of engineering changes. Historically, engineering a Rolls Royce has taken place in workshops, but now the Spectre sees this pivot into the digital space.

In brief, the Spectre is the most connected Rolls Royce ever and each component within it is more intelligent than in any previous Rolls Royce. 

It features 141,200 sender-receiver relations and has more than 1,000 functions with more than 25,000 sub functions. 

By comparison, the Rolls Royce Phantom has 51,000 sender-receiver relations, 456 functions and 647 sub functions.

The amplified aptitude of the Spectre’s electronic and electric powertrain architecture enables a free and direct exchange of detailed info amid these 1,000+ functions with no centralised processing. 

Interestingly, this has required engineers to increase the length of cabling from 2 km in existing Rolls Royce products to 7 km in the Spectre, and to write more than 25 times more algorithms. 

Plus, a dedicated control can be created for each set of functions which enables unprecedented levels of detail and refinement.

Outstandingly allowing for what Rolls Royce chassis specialists are already calling ‘Rolls Royce in high definition’.

“Refining the all-electric drivetrain that underpins the Spectre challenges the very definition of engineering. The departure from internal combustion engines allows us to significantly increase the processing power of our individual components and create a Decentralised Intelligence. We refer to this unprecedented era, where we benefit from a multi-control, multi-channel and highly interconnected electronic and electric powertrain architecture, as ‘Rolls Royce 3.0’. Our task is to teach each component and system how to think, behave and communicate like a Rolls Royce, which sees much of the engineering pivot from workshops into the digital space. Here in Arjeplog we have built a significant foundation on which we will create a true Rolls Royce. This is a big step forward for our brand, but also for electrification. Even though the Spectre is in its infancy, I can confirm that the technology is able to contain the Rolls Royce experience,” expressed Rolls Royce Motor Cars’ director of engineering, Mihiar Ayoubi.

The Spectre And Its Architecture

First off, in creating a design for the Spectre, a generously proportioned, highly emotional body style was selected. The marque’s all-aluminium spaceframe architecture.

Undeniably, the scale is so far beyond other contemporary coupés that it has been designated as an Electric Super Coupé. 

Only one other example occupies this space, and that is the Phantom Coupé, to which the marque’s designers consider the Spectre to be a spiritual successor.

As such, when styling the Spectre, the designers have considered the dimensions and emotionality of the Phantom Coupé, aside from other grand coupés from Rolls Royce’s past. 

They have created this emotion with the Spectre’s fastback silhouette and size, and also carried forward a key design feature of the Phantom Coupé, the iconic split headlights.

Furthermore, the flexibility of Rolls Royce’s patented architecture, enables the exterior design to carry the scale required to create the presence of an authentic Rolls Royce. 

This is obviously portrayed with the Spectre’s wheel size, as it is the first coupé equipped with 23-inch wheels since 1926.

Besides that, the flexibility of said architecture also enabled designers to dramatize the coupé experience.

Specifically, by placing the floor halfway between the sill structures rather than on top or underneath the sills.

Allowing a highly aerodynamic channel for the battery, providing a perfectly smooth underfloor profile. Likewise, this creates a low seating position and an enveloping cabin experience.

For the latter, by moving the bulkhead location, designers and engineers have also been able to deepen the dashboard location to truly cocoon the passengers. 

Then, this is amplified with a low windscreen rake and an efficient airflow profile. Along with other innovative designs like the lady of Rolls Royce, which contributes to 0.26 drag coefficient (cd).

The battery location on the other hand unlocks another benefit that is appropriate with the Rolls Royce experience. 

By creating wiring and piping channels between the floor of the car and roof of the battery, engineers have created a secondary function for the battery, 700 kg of sound deadening.

The Spectre’s Magic Carpet Ride Continues

The Electric Super Coupé still has to complete nearly two million kilometres before it can graduate. Its first customer deliveries are slated in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Regardless, with the winter testing phase completed, the Rolls Royce Spectre will now continue on to its global testing programme.