The highly anticipated all-electric Rolls-Royce Spectre passes winter performance tests

 

In September 2021, Rolls-Royce confirmed the start of the testing phase for the first all-electric Rolls-Royce in history, the Specter. This exceptional mission will be the most difficult test program in Rolls-Royce's history, covering a distance of 2.5 million kilometers, which is more than 400 years of average Rolls-Royce usage.

Rolls-Royce cars usually see the light of day in the winter season. Temperatures dip as low as minus 26 degrees Celsius at the mark's Ariplog facility in Sweden, just 55km from the Arctic Circle. Rolls-Royce is not satisfied with this level of coldness but also reduces the temperature to 40 degrees below zero.

It may sound strange, but there are many reasons for exposing Rolls-Royce products to such extreme temperatures. When the first prototypes were built, engineers performed very rudimentary testing at temperature extremes to make sure each system would operate to a minimum acceptable level in cold weather. In addition to these tests, the start of a refinement process is considered the first “lesson” at the polishing center that will create the foundations of a car worthy of the brand’s mark.

This stage begins with common processes in the automotive world, such as noise, vibration, and harshness tests. The variables that affect the result of the tests are many and manifold, involving the materials chosen to make key hardware components, door rubber thickness, lining compounds, fasteners, and even adhesive properties. It should be noted that the performance of these variables can change dramatically when exposed to extreme temperatures, and the same is true for the effectiveness of the vehicle's heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and cooling system.

Rolls-Royce has also attached great importance to putting an additional component to the winter test and it is not surprising for a brand of this size. The marque’s engineers refer to this component as “de-escalation time,” which allows precision and total control over the creation of the Rolls-Royce experience through the use of the chassis control, transmission management, and electronic control systems.

By driving on low-friction surfaces such as snow and ice, and deliberately disrupting the Specter's stability, engineers can create dynamic conditions that normally occur at high speeds, but at low speeds. These factors can be studied and directed in the workshop and during a slow motion to define and improve the vehicle's cold-weather performance standards in many areas including handling, handling, stability, predictability, and the smooth ride experience for which Rolls-Royce is known.

The de-escalation time allows engineers to pay attention to minute details of the car's response, thereby teaching the Specter how to think, act and communicate as a car worthy of the Rolls-Royce hallmark. After about half a million km of testing, 25% of the process has been completed.

With the winter performance testing phase complete, Specter will continue its global testing program. The luxury electric coupe will still have to travel about two million kilometers until the brand's engineers say the job is complete before the first car is delivered to customers in the fourth quarter of 2023.