At wheel of first Rolls-Royce EV

BEFORE the first customer drives a mile their Rolls-Royce Spectre, the new Ev will have covered over 1.5 million miles in development testing and we've joined the company as part of the fourth stage of this process to get behind the wheel of a prototype model for the first time.

- Sean Carson

The car is about 60 per cent complete, we're told (probably a little more in truth), but gives a great idea of where the Spectre is heading and how it will behave.

And its manners are already brilliant, right from the moment you slide past the car's huge, rear-hinged door and sink into the seat. Put your foot on the brake and the door arcs shut electrically so you don't have to reach out and swing it from behind you.

Once you're on the move, there is no noise from the powertrain: no motor whine, no faint hum. Even the climate control has come under scrutiny for its gentle blower woosh being too loud. Seriously.

The Spectre is as silent as an EV gets, yet Rolls-Royce thinks there are still a few tweaks that can improve it one small step further. Despite the deathly silence inside when cruising along at around 70mph, I'm told there's still work to be done.