Electric cars for the super rich

EV technology is supposed to be for everyone. But... [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hello! It’s me again, Hannah Elliott, your car reporter here at Bloomberg Pursuits. This week I want to talk about electric vehicles—the expensive ones. They’re on my mind because earlier this month I traveled to Cape Town, South Africa, to be the first non-Rolls-Royce employee to drive the brand’s first-ever EV, the Spectre. You can read my thoughts about the car online [here](, or in the current issue of the magazine. TL:DR, it’s an absolutely fantastic car, which elevates expectations of how comfortable and luxurious an EV can be. The Spectre is a two-door coupe—and those doors are so long that you need to push on the brake to get them to close. You can’t reach the handles with your arms! Source: Rolls-Royce One of the best parts of my trip was time spent with Torsten Müller-Ötvös, who has led Rolls-Royce as chief executive since 2010. An impeccably mannered polymath, Müller-Ötvös has that rare ability to relate and do business with those with extreme wealth while maintaining his touch with culture and beauty in any form. Just ask him about his love of Niles Rogers, or his thoughts on fly fishing. I was interested to hear more about the type of people Müller-Ötvös expects will buy the Spectre, which will cost around $500,000—the average price of a Rolls-Royce these days. Here’s a portion of a conversation we filmed on camera for Bloomberg [QuickTake](–this is content that didn’t make it to TV. What did you hear from your existing Rolls-Royce clients while you were developing the Spectre?  One clear learning always was that the car needs to be a Rolls-Royce first and an electric Rolls-Royce second. The clients told us: Please maintain everything that we love. Torsten Müller-Ötvös, the CEO of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg Who is going to buy this car—is there a certain demographic? I wouldn’t call it a certain demographic. We have seen, interestingly enough, a lot of interest from our existing client base so far worldwide. The preorder intake is far better than we thought it would be. Interestingly enough, we also see quite a lot of clients we have never seen before in the brand, and who came to us for the reason that we are the very, very first ones in the super luxury segment offering an electric super luxury car. Obviously with electric vehicles there are concerns about range and charging infrastructures. Is the estimated 260-mile range on the Spectre enough for your clients? The range is definitely sufficient. Normally for our clients it's not so much a long, long distance drive in a Rolls-Royce. It's very much into the city, commuting around cities. It's not the typical London to Edinburgh and back at the same day behavior. Many of our clients, interestingly enough, Hannah, do already have quite a lot of experience with electric cars, so you will find there are already charging devices in many of our client's garages. Obviously, we will help wherever it is needed with installments of a Rolls-Royce charger in the private garages, obviously also at the office buildings where our clients work. The starlight headliner that comes standard in most models on the ceiling is extended to the doors in the Spectre. Source: Rolls-Royce I want to ask about this year–there are talks of a recession, fears of economic instability. Do you anticipate that will affect sales of the Spectre? I don't foresee that. I'm cautiously optimistic for a stronger year again, in 2023. We have a long lasting order book already into the year. I haven't seen a single cancellation yet. Okay, so, how do we get one? I would ask you to go to your preferred dealer partner and then obviously you need to place a down payment for the car. You will be registered immediately. Once that is done, the down payment is paid and registered with your local dealer, you are lined up for your order. You are then immediately slotted into [the official order bank] and you get what I call a precise date when you can take delivery of Spectre. If you order today, you probably will take delivery of a new Spectre by the end of 2024, if not even the beginning of 2025. What's the down payment? Down payment is minimum around $20,000, but I'm more than happy to take more if you want. More about the rare air of ultra-luxury EVs: [What It's Like to Drive the Electric Rolls-Royce Spectre (Video)]( "It registered a 0-60 mph sprint time of 4.4 seconds." The first electric Rolls-Royce is here. And Bloomberg's Hannah Elliott is the first non-Rolls-Royce employee to drive it. [The New Rolls-Royce Phantom Marks the End of the Era of Opulence]( The last V12 Phantom to be made, its unrestrained luxury eschews apologies for … anything. [Bentley, Rolls-Royce Evade Chip Issues to Score Record Sales]( Keep calm and carry on worked pretty well in 2021. [Rolls-Royce to Stop Making Internal Combustion Cars by Decade’s End]( So long, V12. But electric cars can’t save the world if only rich people buy them. Tesla Model Y electric vehicles in a lot at the Tesla Inc. Gigafactory in Gruenheide, Germany. Photographer: Liesa Johannssen/Bloomberg My colleague Kyle Stock has done some great work looking at who is buying electric vehicles. Turns out, it’s rich people. Most Americans can’t afford to buy a new EV. The average sticker price for an EV is [almost $59,000](, nearly one quarter more than the industry’s offerings at large, according to Edmunds. Those who can afford them tend to over-indulge. In a recent Bloomberg survey of EV drivers, Stock writes, 14% of respondents said they owned more than one battery-powered vehicle; 6% had three or more. The surge to high prices for the best EVs, making them attainable only for wealthier consumers started with Tesla. Yes, Nissan and Chevrolet and Toyota have made affordable plug-in cars for years, but their odd shapes and cheaper construction failed to enchant American drivers. Musk changed all of that with his Teslas, which he marketed as high-end products driven by cool, morally superior people. Once luxury brands like Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche realized they’d need to make EVs to, among other things, comply with strict emissions standards in Europe—and that they could [charge a premium]( for the EV versions of already prohibitively priced products—they rushed to join the market.  What’s more, a lot of EV buyers are loading up on, if not downright hoarding, them. Some 26% of EV buyers in the second quarter either traded their used electric car for a new one or simply added another to their garage, according to Edmunds. Another 9% of new EV buyers were already driving a hybrid. The EV market is [not great at converting new drivers](, which furthers the phenomenon that it’s for people “in the know.” It doesn’t do much good for some people to own multiple EVs while others can’t afford them—after all, an EV only helps to decarbonize the world if it offsets both gas-powered driving and the considerable emissions needed to make the EV. The only way for an EV to cover its carbon is to make up the difference in sheer miles replaced, and that doesn’t happen when it’s sitting in the garage at home. Despite all our advances, the saying remains true: You can only drive one car at a time. [What Electric Cars Should Be in 2023]( [The Wrong Americans Are Buying Electric Cars]( [Electric Vehicle Sales Top $1 Trillion in Wake-Up Call for Carmakers]( [Polestar and Rivian Say EVs Aren’t Enough to Hit Climate Goals]( [Ferrari CEO Moves Fast Like Musk While Forging Own Path on EVs]( [2023 Will Be the Year of the Electric SUV]( What else I’m consuming - Slow Days, Fast Company, by Eve Babitz. I’ve had some long flights for work lately, and I’ve found myself returning to this West Coast siren and her carnal tales about sex, sun, solitude and society. She has that recherché ability to make us readers feel like we are wrapped with her inside the warm, wild Los Angeles whirlwind of dandies and bohemians that she commanded in the 1970s. Her observations are so astute they feel acutely insightful and modern even today. - Wooden Shjips, the obscure psychedelic rock band from San Francisco hasn’t released new music since 2018, and they almost never tour. But their retro-futuristic songs influenced by the Brian Jonestown Massacre, the Black Angels, and the Velvet Underground make for spacey soundtracks great for writing, reading, driving, or just chilling out. (P.S. It’s pronounced “ships.”) - Rick Rubin’s recent long podcast [with Ezra Klein]( about the creative life—how to find it, foster it, and keep it—is one of the best I’ve ever heard. I plan to re-listen to it occasionally whenever I feel low about my work. Rubin’s new book, [The Creative Act: A Way of Being](, further explores what it means to live and thrive as a thinker and artist. - Stephen A. Smith’s [Know Mercy]( podcast comes from the sports world’s patron saint of delightful, often hilarious verbosity; he delivers his hot takes with the wit, cadence, spirit and lung capacity of a master preacher. Yes, sometimes the podcast is about sports, but it’s also about culture, work, civics, and love. You never know what you’re going to get with Stephen A., and that’s what keeps me coming back. So, You Have Some Car Questions Will Saturns be cool some day? What makes an old model hot? Sure! If your Saturn makes you excited to drive it and proud that you own it, that’s cool in my book. If you love it, embrace it. On a more general level, there’s a 25- to 30-year rule of thumb for old cars: When people get old enough to be able to afford the car that was on the poster in their bedroom as a kid, that old car will become hot again. What is the best EV to get this year? The best electric for you depends on how plan to use it. Is it your only vehicle? Do you have children? Are you on a budget? Will you be taking it down dirt roads or up sandy paths? How much do you care about how it looks? Does Elon Musk [bother you on principle](? These are big considerations when evaluating an EV. Without knowing your specific needs, I can say that [Mercedes-Benz](, [Porsche](, [Polestar](, [BMW]( and [Audi]( are making exemplary EVs these days. Dive on in. What is the perfect ride for a New Yorker? What would you be driving if you still lived in NYC? The perfect ride for a New Yorker is the subway! See above, re: emissions. Or a towncar, duh, if you can afford it. No one in NY wants to worry about parking, and if you’re in a towncar you can work while someone else drives for you — perfect scenario. I always say the ultimate New York luxury is a personal driver. (And then you don’t have to be the one worried about keeping the car charged.) I’d pick that over a personal chef or private masseuse any day. That said, if I still lived in New York City, I’d want to drive something I wasn’t too worried about being dented, dinged, and otherwise abused. NY potholes are no joke—and the taxi drivers? Fugghedaboudit. I’d need something rugged, with a high seat so I could see over traffic as I drive. An old Ford Bronco or Land Rover Defender or original Mercedes-Benz G Wagen would be perfect. Just give me a working radio and heater, and we’re good to go. New for subscribers: Free article gifting. Bloomberg.com subscribers can now gift up to five free articles a month to anyone you want. Just look for the "Gift this article" button on stories. (Not a subscriber? Unlock limited access and [sign up here](.) Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. 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