Around London in sybaritic silence with the majestic all-electric Lunaz Phantom V

This year, Rolls-Royce toasted 100 years of its Phantom limousine. Throughout its long history of gracing Hollywood red carpets, state parade grounds, and the driveways of the world’s most powerful and privileged, Phantom has been hailed as the very apex of luxury. It’s a car that makes people stand to attention. It is, and has always been, the Everest of refinement, craftsmanship and size, and it’s maintained its reputation through a century of constant, often profound change.

The Phantom V is arguably the most iconic of the Phantom’s eight generations. It came to market in 1959, and in 13 years a total of 832 were built. They were delivered to royals, rockers and rogues; King Charles III has inherited both his mother’s and his grandmother’s state Vs. John Lennon, Elton John, Liberace and Elvis Presley were all committed fans. And it had a dedicated following among dictators, including Nicolae Ceaușescu, Tito, and the Shah of Iran. They were all bespoke, but the Phantom you see here is the most unusual of all.

Like the back catalogues of the pop stars who rode around in them in their pomp, it’s been remastered. While Rolls-Royce is busy making Phantom VIIIs today down in Goodwood, a start-up called Lunaz, based in Silverstone, has turned its attention to the Spirit of Ecstasy’s vintage hits from the Crewe years.

The team will find you an old Rolls (they recently bought Jay Kay’s Silver Cloud, for example), strip the whole thing down to the paint, and rebuild it with discreet modern technology and the latest in leather and marquetry, so what you’re left with is a 1960s motor that’s basically brand new bar the chassis plate.

It’s a process that takes between 24 and 36 months. So far, Lunaz has built 15 Rolls and Bentleys on this platform, the technology for which took four years to develop. There are an additional 25 currently in build, and six more are incoming.

The novelty is the powertrain. At this point, purists may start to bleed from the teeth, but as well as restoring the car and putting in things like electric dampers, modern electric windows and windscreen wipers, USB ports and a discreet sat nav and reversing camera, Lunaz has placed a colossal battery pack under the bonnet.

In place of the original 6.23-litre V8 is a proprietary powertrain that produces just shy of 400bhp (the original only mustered 220bhp). Weight has only increased by 90kg, as it was so sumo-sized to begin with – a whale-like 2.7 tonnes. Top speed is limited to 105mph, although the car has achieved 120mph in testing. The price: more than a million quid.

So who’s in the market for this emission-free leviathan that’s 30 times the cost of a Tesla and took 5,500 hours to build? Very wealthy people, obviously, who appreciate classic lines and state-of-the-art tech, who perhaps have been put off classic car ownership before because they don’t want to break down, belch fumes or cover their alabaster gravel driveways in engine oil.

And given that a Rolls-Royce should be smooth, silent and bullet-proof, it makes more sense than any other EV out there. Another party that’s taken an interest is those extremely high-end hotels that love to have a statement piece parked out front, something truly memorable to whisk guests from the airport. Such establishments also like that this car emphasises their green credentials.

Lunaz is currently in talks with a number of properties, including the Maybourne group, which manages The Berkeley, The Connaught, The Emory and Claridge’s in London. For Wallpaper’s test drive, I was the lucky recipient of a suite at The Berkeley big enough for a Grammy-winner, just to get me in the right frame of mind.

Parked in front of The Berkeley, resplendent in navy blue, with pale hide and rich walnut veneer was a Phantom fit for the two kings – Charles and Elvis. The owner of this 1961 piece of automotive sculpture is Adar Poonawalla, an Indian biotech billionaire and Rolls-Royce afficionado who also happens to be an investor in Lunaz (something he has in common with Sir David Beckham).

Pending Transport for London’s approval, Mr Poonawalla’s car will be shared between Maybourne’s four London properties – so keep an eye out for it around the West End.

Lunaz’s founder, David Lorenz, took me through the controls before leaving me to my own devices. At which point I put Led Zeppelin on full blast and wafted my way around Belgravia and Knightsbridge. It was Halloween, and the streets were full of witches, vampires and skeletons out trick-or-treating. This Phantom is spectral not only in name. Even without an exhaust pipe, it seems to create its own fog.

Scarier still is its titanic length, which means you have to be very careful around SW1’s tighter corners, not helped by wing mirrors that reveal almost nothing. The turning circle, David told me, has been much improved, but it’s still like getting the Natural History Museum’s biggest dinosaur out the front door.

The steering is light at speed, but the crawling pace of London traffic means you really have to put your back into it. Yet it glides with ethereal beauty and draws open-mouthed stares not of envy but respect. You could drive it over a fainted guardsman and not feel a bump.

Rolls-Royce always talks about the champagne test: can you floor it without spilling your passengers’ drinks? The torque delivery here is even smoother than Sir Henry Royce managed.

After a suitably decadent dinner at The Berkeley, I switched to the Phantom’s vast back seat and handed over the responsibilities to a chauffeur. He dispatched me to the Royal Albert Hall to see the Irish indie band Inhaler. After all, the Phantom V is the most rock n’ roll car of all time. The Albert has got to be the natural destination for a car that’s always on stage and all but guaranteed a standing ovation.

A day in the Lunaz Phantom: what I wouldn’t give for an encore.

For more information visit ByLunaz.com, @LunazDesign