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The all-electric Rolls-Royce Spectre is undergoing its next testing phase at the French Riviera, the car's natural habitat.

A few months ago Rolls-Royce started testing the Spectre EV in extreme conditions at ineplog, Sweden. Now the focus has been shifted to a more formal testing ground, which could very well depict the Spectre's home ground – the French Riviera.

For the unaware, Rolls-Royce calls the Spectre a promise kept. In 2011, the company showcased a fully electric Experimental Phantom concept named 102EX. This was followed by the Rolls-Royce 103EX which stood for a dramatic design study that anticipated a bold electric future for the marque.

These cars that were designed on an experimental basis prompted significant interest from Rolls-Royce clients, who felt that the characteristics of an electric powertrain would fit perfectly with the brand. Last year, in September, the company confirmed that it had commenced testing of the first all-electric Rolls-Royce, Spectre by coming out with the first teasers of the car.

Sticking to the Rolls-Royce standards, the Spectre was set to undergo the most demanding testing program ever conceived by the marque simulating on average more than 400 years of use for a Rolls-Royce. And that testing has brought the Spectre to the French Riviera.

Over the past months, the marque’s test and development engineers have shifted their focus from extreme conditions to a more formal condition in a location that reflects the motor car’s everyday use: the French Riviera.

According to Rolls-Royce, the French Riviera and its roads present a perfect combination of the types of conditions that will be demanded from Spectre’s clients, ranging from technical coastal corniches to faster inland carriageways.

The French Riviera constitutes a crucial part of Spectre's 1.55 million mile-global testing program where a bit over 388,000 miles will be driven on and around the French Côte d’Azur. This phase is split into two parts, beginning at the historic Autodrome de Miramas proving ground, located in Bouches-du-Rhône in Provence.

The track which once was a host to the 1926 Grand Prix, is now a state-of-the-art test and development facility, incorporating more than 37 miles of closed routes and 20 test track environments that provide a vast number of testing opportunities over its 1,198-acre footprint.

These include irrigation units that create standing water, demanding handling circuits with tight corners and adverse cambers, as well as a heavily banked 3.1-mile three-lane high-speed bowl, enabling Spectre to be tested at continuous high speeds.

The second phase of testing in the region occurs in the Provençal countryside surrounding the Autodrome de Miramas. Interestingly, this region is enjoyed by many of the brand’s clients, therefore a significant 55% of testing here has taken place on the very roads that many production Spectres will be driven on.

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To improve the transmission of data, the company has developed decentralized intelligence for Spectre. This is based on data being processed closer to its source rather than being handled in its entirety by a single central processing unit.

Unlike any of its models before, the Rolls-Royce Spectre features 141,200 sender-receiver relations and has more than 1,000 functions and more than 25,000 sub-functions. This is around thrice the number of sender-receiver signals than a typical Rolls-Royce.

By sending more sophisticated data packets – that not only describe a variable but propose a response – the motor car’s reaction time is significantly faster and more detailed. This advanced technology sees much of the development of Spectre pivot from the workshop into the digital space.

Throughout the Riviera Testing Program, the brand’s most experienced engineers are painstakingly creating a dedicated control for each of Spectre’s 25,000-plus functions, incorporating variations of response depending on factors including weather, driver behavior, vehicle status, and road conditions.

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Underpinning the car is an all-aluminum space frame architecture. Not only has this platform enabled designers to create a new class of Rolls-Royce – the Electric Super Coupe – but it has also provided Spectre with the most rigid body in the brand’s history.

Spectre’s aluminum architecture is reinforced with steel sections that are aimed at providing increased torsional rigidity. The one-piece side panel that one can see extending from the front of the A-pillar to behind the rear tail-lights, is the largest ‘deep draw’ part ever produced by Rolls-Royce – extending nearly four meters in length. Likewise, the pillar-less coach doors, which are nearly 5 feet in length, are the longest in Rolls-Royce history.

Spectre’s exceptional rigidity, which represents a 30% improvement over all existing Rolls-Royce motor cars, has also been achieved by integrating the extremely rigid structure of the battery itself into Spectre’s aluminum space frame architecture. While Spectre's global testing program will continue, the first customer deliveries of the car are expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2023.

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