All-electric Rolls-Royce Spectre concludes winter testing 55km from Arctic Circle. Temperatures at the Bespoke facility in Arjeplog, Sweden, drop to -26 degrees centigrade and are further cooled to -40 degrees centigrade.
There are several reasons for subjecting the vehicle to such extremes. When the first prototypes are built, engineers perform elementary tests in extreme conditions to ensure that each system is operational and functions at a basic level in a cold-weather environment. This test is combined with the beginnings of the refinement process – the first ‘lessons’ in a finishing school that will form the foundations of a motor car worthy of the marque.
This begins with processes common to the automotive industry such as noise, vibration and harshness tests. The variables that affect this are manifold, spanning from the materials selected for major hardware components to the density of the door rubbers, bushing compounds, fastening materials and even properties of bonding agents. Moreover, the performance of these variables can change considerably when subjected to extreme temperatures – likewise, the efficiency of the motor car’s heating, ventilation, air conditioning and cooling systems.
As a true luxury brand, there is an additional component of winter testing that is of great importance to Rolls-Royce. The marque’s engineers define this as ‘de-escalated time’, which enables incredible accuracy and control in creating the Rolls-Royce experience using Spectre’s chassis control systems, powertrain management and electronics control.
By driving on low traction surfaces such as snow and ice and wilfully destabilising Spectre, the engineers can create dynamic circumstances at low speeds that would ordinarily occur at high rates. This can be reviewed and guided in situ and in slow motion, in doing so parametrising and finessing cold-weather vehicle performance in areas such as handling, controllability, stability, predictability and the ‘waft ability’ that defines the Rolls-Royce experience. Following more than half a million kilometres of testing, 25% of this process has now been completed.
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