Last year was rather special for us at The Supercar Blog. We were offered a rare chance to experience the Rolls-Royce Spectre, arguably the most luxurious EV currently on the market. We would like to thank Rolls-Royce North America for this opportunity.
Mike Cutler (@mhcphotograpy) spent a weekend exploring New York City and its surroundings in utmost oppulence, scouting for locations for the Spectre to pose for his camera. This is his first-hand account of the magnificent electric luxury coupe.
Pinch Me!
This whole experience was a happy accident. Sometimes you never know what kind of car adventure is going to land in your lap next…and this one definitely skips to the top.
Earlier this year, The Supercar Blog was given an opportunity to drive a Rolls Royce Spectre for the weekend. My mind immediately started jumping to locations and what would best suite such an amazing-looking machine, and I should mention, an extremely purple machine.
Do yourself a favor and take in this glorious car… I have had many minutes to do so, and I consider myself so lucky…but it may very well be the most amazing EV one can buy! No, it doesn’t have 500 mile range or is a super sporty EV, but it delivers in many other areas, and it does so with class and luxury. There are still buttons and knobs inside, and some screens, but it maintains the typical cabin Rolls Royce is known for. Range sits around 270 miles, but what impressed me the most compared to my other EV experiences is that the Spectre lived up to that number even with the AC blasting, massage seats going, and cruising along on the highway for long distances. This positive purple Spectre comes in at $540,000…and that includes the around $40,000 in options for the special paint, matching leather inside, the silver hood, the Celestial package for the doors and roof, the wheels, and other tech add-ons.
Road Trippin’
Now let’s get on with the trip! We were due to pick up the car from the press fleet in New Jersey, and upon arriving, there was no missing that insane purple. Once our excitement came down and we shuffled gear into the Spectre, we set off for our first area of locations for the weekend. Luckily, Mother Nature was kind to us and served up some sunny days that weekend. Bear Mountain State Park was our first stop, along with the wider known area of Harriman State Park… Such a nice gem of woods and lovely roads; I highly recommend it! Plus, if you get lucky as we did, the summit road was open, so our time up there for sunset was just glorious. It took some time to get used to people staring at the car, and I think it was definitely the color that lured people in, and then others couldn’t care at all… Such is life! These roads were perfect to use the X4 360 camera and the 10-foot pole with suction mount I brought along. That definitely had people staring! I did a few angles from the hood, roof, rear, and side. It certainly offers a unique view, and with the ability to reframe the shot in post, thanks to the 360, I didn’t have to focus on that in the moment.
To The Shore!
With our first day with the Spectre behind us, day two had us going to the Jersey Shore! Our trek down was about an hour and a half, and all along the way, the amount of people who would wave us down, give a thumbs up, and do double takes was amazing. People love this car, its looks, and the wild color. I would happily oblige anyone who waved, wanted a photo, or wanted to sit in it – this car is for sharing with everyone!
As we arrived in Asbury Park, it was time for our first charge. The Spectre has around 270 miles of range, and through my time with them, it definitely lives up to that as a very efficient EV. I own an ID.4 with a range of 250 miles, but I feel it doesn’t live up to that standard in certain situations. The Spectre also has a much better charging curve than the ID.4 and charges decently fast given the battery pack size.
Once juiced up, we hit the boardwalk and found some amazing streets and houses to be our backdrop for the morning. These streets are extremely wide, perhaps 4 Spectres wide! Asbury had a lot to offer us that morning with views and places to film. After a quick bite for lunch, we took to the main drag and headed north, all the way up the shore as far as we could possibly go. This was a beach and lighthouse area called Sandy Hook, and it was a really cool area. A mix of beach back roads and roads that were part of an old military base…but still busy with events and people enjoying the area! We used the old base features in some photos and videos, enjoyed a sunset dinner, and snagged a cool spot to catch the sun heading west. This was one of those locations you see online and weren’t really sure what it would give you for content, but in the end, it turned out to be a great venture! As we waited for sunset to arrive, we took a moment to have dinner, pizza leftovers from lunch, right at the front of the car… soaking in how amazing it is to have this car for the weekend, getting to create content at all of these locations I knew about or scouted online hoping they would deliver when we got there. Really surreal.
The drive back to the city was a nice chance to experience the car at night. Let’s start with the ceiling in the car – the beautiful celestial star show that awaits you and your passengers is a treat and continues in the Rolls lineup. The headlights are fantastic for the driver. The high beams fade up and down gradually, very sophisticated. The adaptive cruise control and driver assist are par for the course… and when you activate the driver assist, the screen delivers some very cool UI for you as the driver. The car effortlessly glides along; it is the smoothest ride I have ever experienced.
Concrete Jungle
Our last day with the Spectre had arrived, and we headed out early to Jersey City to get some NYC skyline for our video and photos. That is a great place to get some lower Manhattan skyline, with a lot less people! While you are in the area, enjoy Liberty State Park too! After we got enough photos and videos with the skyline, it was time to dive into the skyline…by way of the Lincoln Tunnel! Now driving through Manhattan with any car is nerve-wracking, but be it a half-million-dollar machine… it adds a whole new layer of nerves. But I found myself rather enjoying it! It maneuvers very well, and it was easier than I thought to roll through one of the busiest cities in the world. We settled in around the Chelsea area with some nice cobble stone streets that really played well with the car. Surprisingly enough, the street was not that busy that we parked the car in the middle of the street for some cool shots!
After we got the photos and videos… we had some people come over to look at the car, again happy to show it off and let them sit inside. Two of them were from the Lucid studio right across the street. They were so excited to see the Spectre in person. After some nice chit-chat and a tour of the Lucid space, we set off for our second and last charge of the weekend. This charger was located near Times Square, and according to our new Lucid friends, the best charger spot in the city – Gravity chargers. No, not related to Lucid’s new car! 🙂
This was a cool valet service station, and while the Spectre sipped electrons, we chatted with other owners who were interested in Rolls’s first EV. Once full of kilowatts we took the parkway north out of the city to return our beloved machine….
…Once back at the drop-off location in New Jersey, we unloaded the gear back into my car (which felt like a big downgrade!) and headed home. Reflecting back on this amazing experience, what we achieved, and where we went in such a short time of 48 hours… it certainly hits the top of my automotive adventures.
Check out Mike Cutler’s other projects on this website.