The British automaker doesn't have the best track record when it comes to reliability. Still, they seem confident they can turn the tide with the new Range Rover Electric – and its (reported) upcoming sibling, the Range Rover Sport Electric.
Just before the end of November, we discovered that some V8-powered Range Rovers produced earlier this fall need to be recalled, as the company needs to try to fix a detaching oil cooler hose. Frankly, you would expect stuff like that from a brand-new first model year of the latest generation – but the elegant and capable fifth-generation Range Rover has been around for a bit longer than that.
Anyway, it's not like diehard fans of Land Rovers don't know these big SUVs aren't exactly the world's most reliable automobiles (wink, wink). But now, the company aims to usher in a new era. So, after we have seen the big Range Rover with mild hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains in addition to inline-six Ingenium and BMW-borrowed V8s, now it's almost time to welcome in the age of the Range Rover Electric.
After the hype drum sounds fade away, Land Rover fans will be glad to find out that JLR has proceeded to open the waiting list for the flagship SUV. Curiously, they are doing this not after the Range Rover EV is already out and about but way before that – the company also announced that it is currently starting the prototype testing phase. If I correctly remember my auto journalist homework, that part of the R&D process takes anywhere between six months and a couple of years – even four if you're Tesla.
As such, I am pretty sure the Range Rover Electric is not coming out for the 2024MY, for the 2025MY, and maybe not even for the 2026 model year – not unless they skip critical phases like hot and cold weather testing, as well as durability trials, which involve racking up as many miles as possible to see if any problems arise during use. Oh well, Tesla must be the culprit for this kind of stuff – the ultra-hyped Cybertruck needed exactly four years from its presentation to its first deliveries!
As far as it is concerned, Land Rover explains that more patents were filed for the new RR EV than any other Range Rover before and also promises that prototypes will undergo "one of most rigorous engineering sign-off programs ever – to confirm capability spanning extreme temperatures, all conditions and every terrain – and of course wading through up to 850mm-deep water." It's also slated to become the "quietest and most refined Range Rover ever created."
You would think that's inherent to an EV, right? Nope, Land Rover will ensure it controls NVH levels with a bespoke active road noise cancellation "configuration and sound design." As far as we can tell from the inaugural teaser photos, the Range Rover EV won't be too different from its ICE-powered counterparts and only has "subtle cues hinting at its all-electric drive."
However, more importantly, Land Rover will produce the Range Rover Electric on the flexible Modular Longitudinal Architecture in Solihull, United Kingdom, where a new £70 million facility is set to open at the factory, and its battery packs plus electric drive units (EDUs) will be assembled at JLR's new Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre in Wolverhampton, the UK – and all is neatly tied up on a speedy 800V platform "to enable rapid charging on public networks."
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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