You can now get on the waiting list for the upcoming Range Rover Electric ahead of formal orders opening.
JLR has teased some styling details of the Range Rover Electric, including its charge port, EV-badged wheels, and a grille that’s closed-off but resembles that of combustion-powered Range Rovers.
It hasn’t confirmed when it will launch the vehicle.
After a year of virtual development, JLR has commenced physical prototype testing of the first-ever electric Range Rover.
It promises “go-anywhere capability [that] will ensure towing, wading and all-terrain technology surpass any other luxury electric SUV”.
“We are on target to create the quietest and most refined Range Rover ever created,” said Thomas Müller, executive director of product engineering at JLR.
“And as repeated throughout history, the Range Rover will continue to set the standard. The first of its type. An electric luxury SUV that can deliver on the Range Rover promise. A true global luxury product, as yet unseen in the industry.”
The electric Range Rover will have a “unique active road noise cancellation configuration [and] sound design” and will offer performance “comparable to a flagship Range Rover V8”.
It will also use an 800V electrical architecture, though JLR has yet to detail battery specifications such as chemistry, capacity and charge rates.
The company promises a “seamless electric ownership experience”, including energy partnerships, over-the-air software updates, and “intelligent technology to maximise range”.
Prototypes are now being tested in a variety of different locations, including Sweden and Dubai, in temperatures ranging from -40°C to 50°C, with the company ensuring the robustness of its electric drive system, chassis, underfloor and battery.
It’s also being waded through up to 850mm-deep water.
The Range Rover Electric will use the same Modular Longitudinal Architecture (MLA) as the petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid Range Rover, but will use batteries and electric motors produced at JLR’s new Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre in Wolverhampton in the UK.
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“I think the thing about a Range Rover is that it needs to be itself, so we didn’t try to do anything differently for the EV version,” JLR vehicle line director Rory O’Murcho told CarExpert at the launch of the new-generation Range Rover last year.
“The important thing is that the architecture has been designed and engineering to be ‘EVable’, so for the PHEV the battery is underneath the floor and the architecture has been engineered to take the BEV battery as well.”
The company isn’t expecting demand for the EV to outstrip that of standard combustion-powered Range Rovers, but said it’s a growing niche.
The Range Rover Electric will go up against the likes of the Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV and upcoming EQG.
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