A new Rolls-Royce model always ushers in the beginning of its life cycle in winter. Rolls-Royce's exclusive custom test site is located in Arjeplug, Sweden, just 55 kilometers from the Arctic Circle, with temperatures of about minus 26 degrees Celsius and minimum temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius.
In September 2021, Rolls-Royce Motors announced that it would launch its most landmark product, the Rolls-Royce Shining. It was the most historic release since founders Charles Rouse and Sir Henry Rice began working together on 4 May 1904 to create "the best car in the world".
In the use of internal combustion engines, Rolls-Royce is renowned for creating "the best cars in the world". The idea of electrification is no stranger to Rolls-Royce. Henry Rice began his career as an electrical engineer and spent most of his life building an internal combustion engine that simulated the characteristics of an electric car – quiet operation, instant response, smooth shifting.
Electrification has much more to do with the founders of the Rolls-Royce brand. In 1900, Charles Rouse personally drove an early electric car called columbia. At that time, he predicted: 'Electric cars are noiseless, very clean, and have no smell and vibration of fuel vehicles.' If a fixed charging station can be arranged, the practicality of electric vehicles will be very impressive'. The Shining Spirit fulfilled this prophecy.
The advent of the "Shining" represents the fulfillment of the Rolls-Royce brand's promise spanning a century. In 2011, Rolls-Royce exhibited a pure electric phantom test vehicle called the 102EX. The 103EX followed, showcasing an eye-catching design concept and a vision of a rolls-Royce embracing an electrified future. These electric test models have generated great interest among Rolls-Royce customers. They believe that the characteristics of the electric system are perfectly suited to the Rolls-Royce brand. Rolls-Royce Automotive CEO Toston Müller Utfords also made a clear commitment: Rolls-Royce will move towards electrification from this decade.
Rolls-Royce has a variety of considerations for product testing in extreme environments. When the first prototypes are built, the engineering team conducts basic tests under extreme conditions to ensure that the vehicle's various systems function properly in cold weather environments and perform basic functions. The integration of testing and improvement is the first hurdle of testing and the basic threshold for whether an automotive product is worthy of the Rolls-Royce brand.
As a true luxury brand, winter testing has an additional important part that means a lot to Rolls-Royce. The Rolls-Royce Vehicle Engineering team calls it a "sublimation moment." In the process, the vehicle engineering team will create a Rolls-Royce experience with incredible accuracy and handling through The Shining's chassis control system, powertrain management and electronic control system.
In the same process, the engineering team was able to create unparalleled detail based on the vehicle's test feedback, giving the Shining the same logic, operation and interaction as a real Rolls-Royce car. At present, the Rolls-Royce "Shining" road test is a quarter complete, more than 50,000 kilometers.
The Shining is the most connected Rolls-Royce model ever made, and each of its components is smarter than ever. It has 141,200 transceivers, more than 1,000 functions and more than 25,000 sub-functions. In contrast, the Phantom has 51,000 sets of transceivers, 465 functions, and 647 sub-functions.
The Electronic Control and Electric Drive System architecture of the Shining is significantly more intelligent, allowing details to be exchanged freely and directly between these more than 1,000 functions without the need for centralized processing. To achieve this level of intelligence, the vehicle engineering team increased the length of the On-Board Harness of the Shining from about 2 km to 7 km from the existing Rolls-Royce model, writing an algorithm that is more than 25 times that of the existing model, a crucial step forward for Rolls-Royce. Each set of "Shining" functions is equipped with dedicated control components that allow it to achieve unprecedented precision and refinement. Rolls-Royce vehicle chassis experts call it "the work of a high-precision Rolls-Royce".
With the perfect conclusion of winter testing, the "Shining" global road test will continue to advance. The all-electric super coupe still needs to travel nearly 2 million kilometers, and it is expected that the Rolls-Royce vehicle engineering team will consider delivering the "Shining" to the first customers after the completion of the global road test in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Xiaoxiang Morning News reporter Mao Chuan