Watch the All-Electric Jeep Magneto Concept Tackle Very Real Off-Road Obstacles

While it's a fully functional concept, the Magneto is far from a finished product. It's essentially what I would do with a V6-powered JL if I wanted to convert it to electric power and had a ton more knowledge about the matter than I actually do. It's a factory-backed conversion; that's what it is.

It's also what the future of off-roading might look like because if everything else about the automotive world goes electric, so will blazing trails and climbing rocks with a vehicle. However, these types of activities still pose some issues that the Wrangler Magneto leaves unaddressed (stuff like how do you deal with the extra weight or the limited range?), but since this is just a concept, it wouldn't be fair to expect it to solve everything.

Besides, the Jeep Wrangler Magneto is plenty impressive already. It's one of the very few EVs that use a manual transmission—or a multi-geared transmission of any kind, for that matter. The Porsche Taycan may think it's the bee's knees with its two-speed automatic, but the Magneto gets a six-speed manual. Not only that, but it retains the original Wrangler's transfer case, so it can switch between 2WD and 4WD high, neutral (duh!), and 4WD low.

How is that helpful? Well, it sure offers a lot more variation than the classic EV solution of a single-speed transmission, and when you're out into the wilderness, you never know what you're going to come up against, so it's better to be prepared. There's a reason why swiss army knives caught on, instead of just a simple blade.

Even Magneto's EV credentials aren't exactly bad. Jeep engineers somehow found a way to stick 70 kWh (56 kWh usable) of batteries under the two-door Wrangler's body, which is probably the bare minimum for a vehicle that's going to spend its time away from civilization and the electrical outlets it comes with.

The 56 kWh capacity is enough to give the 5,700-lbs (~2.6-ton) off-roader a maximum range of 150 miles (nearly 250 km), so that's definitely something Jeep is going to have to work on. The 35-inch tires certainly don't help its efficiency, yet it's the least you would expect for a Wrangler.

How long until we see a production-ready, battery-powered Wrangler? Jeep doesn't say, but if the Magneto is anything to go by, it looks as though it'll be a monster of a vehicle once it comes out. As the guys over at The Fast Lane Car said after driving the Magneto, it works as a proof of concept. Now, let's wait for the series model; whether it's with joy or dread, is up to you.