2026 Rolls-Royce Black Badge Spectre | UK Review
Goodwood may be pedalling back some EV plans, but the 659hp Black Badge sticks firmly to script
No one wishes to make a public u-turn, however modest. Flip-reversing a whole corporate philosophy has all manner of implications – you can bet none of the carmakers currently rewriting their commitment to electrification are doing so lightly. Though Rolls-Royce acknowledges its 2022 plans to curtail petrol-powered production by 2030 was “right at the time,” it’s nonetheless said its 12-cylinder product will live on well beyond this decade, affirming “the V12 is part of our history.” All while still committing to EVs long term, mind you: the first chapter of its new Coachbuild Collection is a car that draws its power entirely from a plug.
A chance to ramp up intrigue – and thus demand – through exclusivity? Well, Rolls was already acing its pivot away from fossil fuels with the really rather wonderful Spectre. “It’s an epic ground coverer,” declared Matt B two years ago of Rolls’ first production EV, a car launched 123 years after the company’s first dabble with pure electric propulsion. “It’s relaxed and reserved but never stops hinting at a greater potency. Put it this way, a Spectre Black Badge sounds great already, given the foundations its maker has to work with.”
Et voila, Bird’s wish is granted from deep within Goodwood. The Black Badge Spectre (their official cadence) raises the peak outputs of the Spectre’s dual motors from 585hp and 660lb ft to 659hp and 793lb ft, the former only with the press of its Infinity button (whose emblem mirrors that of the water speed records of Donald Campbell and his ilk) and the latter only with a foot on each pedal to activate its ‘Spirited Mode’ launch control, which helps remove nearly half a second from its 0-60mph time.
Black Badging the Spectre also brings recalibrated steering and damping, to increase interactivity and reduce cornering roll, while the digital dials enjoy a multicoloured glow-up to hint at what lies beneath: i.e. the most computerised Rolls-Royce yet. The company makes a big deal of the fact you can summon its voice assistant to help you adjust the climate control or hunt out a rapid charging station. 'Rather than acting upon these desires yourself,' the material poetically informs us, 'Eleanor, your intelligent companion, grants your requests.' The transition to vocal commands may just come quicker to Rolls owners than the rest of us, but there’s no denying some help in locating chargers for a behemoth 102kWh of usable battery is beneficial regardless of the car it’s powering. The range is quoted at 306 miles, a smidge down on the base Spectre – as one might expect from a racier sibling with no extra cells packed into its floor.
Rolls doesn’t like to quote exact prices, but let’s count on a roughly 20 per cent hike over the entry coupe for a £380,000-ish starting point before your personalisation is ladled on. It might just retain a lot of that, too: the cheapest Spectres in the PH classifieds appearing to have lost far less than other luxury EVs in pure percentage terms.
First impressions are, unsurprisingly, of a Spectre with a bit more. This wasn’t a first drive shrouded by techy Powerpoints or big brand statements – it was a hasty grab of its chunky key with the car’s finer details researched on the fly. Hence I drove my first quarter of an hour not realising I was down on the full 659hp, so muscular is its standard output and so subtly decorated is its Infinity switch. No shouty red M buttons or gauche drive mode dials here.
Once pressed, the car is indeed quicker, though it doesn’t surrender its neat throttle progression, so ultimately you drive it similarly in either setup. Proof, if any were needed, that it’s extraordinarily well set up out of the box and handles its 2.9 tonnes with an almost ethereal panache. This is a car that can manage greater cornering forces than its enormous silhouette immediately suggests and one that consistently feels like it has an awful lot of untapped potential. Both explicitly on its power reserve meter, which rarely loiters far below 100%, and more implicitly in its level of grip.
You can loosen and even extinguish its DSC without feeling in any more peril, the wide rubber of these larger, Black Badge-special 23-inch wheels working with its finely calibrated power delivery to keep things neat ‘n’ tidy. What we wouldn’t give for the long, tree-lined driveways of the estate its target owners surely inhabit to nudge closer to the extremes of its behaviour. Happily, it gives you Rolls-appropriate levels of interaction and joy at all speeds, its augmented, digitised sound being pleasingly classy and making it feel more mischievous than even a V12-equipped Black Badge. The dark, alter-ego vibe of the whole affair feels even more fitting on a fully electrified coupe; a car of contrasts and contradictions that all come together regardless. The interior is – naturally – a triumph, even in lurid orange. The Black Badge play for younger buyers is evidenced by its darkened clockface and a host of materials less rooted in the traditional. Good luck finding any chrome or wood here.
Electrification (and the loss of a whisper-smooth V12) doesn’t inflict any wounds upon the Rolls-Royce experience in the base Spectre, and the success story is unaffected by some imposed Black Badge athleticism. Those intending to leave the hired hands at home and hustle their own car (Eleanor can’t quite take the reins herself yet) will appreciate the extra, carefully meted edge here. Much like the Black Badge Ghost I drove at the close of 2025, this isn’t a night-and-day transformation or a compelling reason to cancel an existing Spectre order for. It’s the product of a sub-brand that seems to revolve at least as much around styling and the chance to go in even harder on personalisation as it does subtle dynamic tweaks. But if your lofty-GSM invite to purchase the new coachbuilt EV appears to be lost in the post, your sorrows ought to be soaked up adequately by the thickly piled carpets in one of these.
SPECIFICATION | 2026 ROLLS ROYCE BLACK BADGE SPECTRE
Engine: Dual motors, 102kWh (usable) battery
Transmission: Single-speed, all-wheel drive
Power (hp): 659
Torque (lb ft): 793
0-60mph: 4.1secs
Top speed: 155mph
Weight: 2,903kg
Range: 308 miles
Price: from £380,000 (est)
No issue with EV in Rolls though aside from range; the petrol probably doesn t go 500 miles between service stations either, but having to endure service stations every couple hundred from inside something like this would be a deal breaker.
Who cares about the press fleet spec, when everyone knows you can have pretty much anything you could possibly want?
Like all Royces, customer specs vary from classy to gauche (with a modern frisson of eau d'hip hop) - I can ignore other people's choices and focus on how I'd make my own.
Do like that blue. Nickel plated brightwork, silver wheels.
Interior? Zero clue - I'd need some extended visits to the wood and trim shops to decide.
The whole point of RR is absolute luxury with absolute refinement with the best ride and more power than absolutely needed. An EV RR does this in spades. An owner doesn’t want to hear the engine or feel the vibrations through the cabin, he wants ultimate waft. Until EVs came along, the V12 was the nearest RR could get to that. Prodigious power at the merest touch of the accelerator and all at low revs keeping the noise and intrusive vibrations to a minimum. Now we have an EV that can further insulate the owner from the outside world and has mental power to boot.
If you want to hear a V12 then get an AM or Lamborghini (no doubt the owner of an RR already has a few). If you want opulent silence and refinement, get a Spectre.
Anyway, I think the ‘base’ Bentley Conti from the other day looks better but the ethos behind the electric RR is what RR should be all about now.
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