The Rolls-Royce Spectre represents a new, electrified era for the brand

Charles Rolls, co-founder of Rolls-Royce, prophesised an electric future for the automobile back in 1900. He foresaw the electric car's suitability as a clean, noiseless alternative to the internal combustion engine.

Today, more than 120 years later, Rolls-Royce has finally made that vision come true for Charles Rolls's own company. The prophecy has been made a reality with the unveiling of the Rolls-Royce Spectre, the company's first fully electric car.

Rolls-Royce claims that the Spectre has started an entirely original class of car, what it terms as the 'Ultra-Luxury Electric Super Coupe'. The company believes that this is due to the Spectre's extravagant proportions and electric powertrain.

For example, the Spectre's split head lights are intersected by the widest grille ever on a Rolls-Royce. The vanes of the iconic Pantheon grille are now smoother in section and a flusher fit, designed to help guide the air around the car's front.

Beign a Rolls-Royce, a domineering presence is key. The polished stainless-steel finish of the grille do this by enhancing Spectre's presence using environmental reflection. Atop this grille also rests an aero-tuned Spirit of Ecstasy figurine, itself the product of 830 combined hours of design modelling and wind tunnel testing, contributing to the Spectre's title of being the most aerodynamic Rolls-Royce ever. Drag coefficient here rests at a claimed 0.25Cd.

Inside, Spectre is provisioned with the most technologically advanced Bespoke features yet, drawing inspiration from the night sky. For the first time on a series production Rolls-Royce, the Spectre is available with Starlight Doors, which incorporate 4,796 softly illuminated 'stars'.

Alongside the illuminated surfaces, Spectre is equipped with a completely redesigned digital architecture named 'Spirit', presented in the regal, Rolls-Royce style.

Not only will Spirit manage the car's functions, it is seamlessly integrated into the marque's Whispers application, allowing clients to interact with their car remotely, and receive live information curated by the marque's intelligence specialists.

The Spectre will also feature the impressive Planar system, which can decouple the car's anti-roll bars allowing each wheel to act independently.

This prevents the rocking motion that occurs when one side of a vehicle hits an undulation in the road. This also reduces high-frequency ride imperfections caused by shortcomings in road surface quality.

Once a corner is identified as imminent, the Planar system recouples the components and stiffens the dampers. The four-wheel steering system is then prepared for activation to ensure effortless entry and exit.

Under cornering, 18 sensors are monitored, and steering, braking, power delivery and suspension parameters are adjusted so that Spectre remains stable.

Rolls-Royce states that the Spectre is expected to have an all electric range of 520km and offer 900Nm of torque from its 569bhp powertrain. It is anticipated to do the zero to 100km/h sprint in 4.5 seconds.

With many months of testing and optimisation of Spectre still ahead, these figures are subject to change ahead of official confirmation prior to market launch in the last quarter of 2023.