The new electrical Range Rover has been all however revealed as final-stage testing will get underneath approach forward of its launch later this yr.
New pictures present JLR’s second manufacturing EV testing within the Arctic Circle – following a yr of element and digital assessments – the place temperatures fall as little as -40deg C.
Unusually, the Range Rover EV has been proven fully uncamouflaged – a choice made to “underline the build quality of the initial prototypes”, in line with JLR.
Painted all in black and with out the contrasting matt trim components that JLR has beforehand advised will mark out the EV powertrain, the prototype seems all however equivalent to the ICE Range Rover that has been on sale since 2022.
JLR stated these new pictures present how the prototype’s “modernist design language stays true to the Range Rover bloodline”, suggesting that the Range Rover Electric – as it’s formally named – will solely be subtly differentiated from the straight-six, V8 and plug-in hybrid derivatives.
Mercedes-Benz is taking the same strategy with the electric version of the G-Class, which will likely be revealed this week on the Beijing motor show, and is tipped to stay largely equivalent to the fuel-burning variants.
The focus at this stage of the Range Rover Electric’s growth programme is claimed to be the efficiency of its gearbox, electrical motors and electronics in excessive circumstances. JLR highlighted that that is the primary automotive to make use of a battery and electrical drive unit (EDU) assembled in-house.
The firm additionally revealed that, quite than a standard ABS-based traction management system, the brand new EV makes use of new software program to exactly handle slip at every wheel – claiming to have diminished the “torque reaction time at each wheel from around 100 milliseconds, to as little as one millisecond”. As a outcome, “traction is maximised on all surfaces with exceptional response and composed refinement, significantly enhancing the Range Rover drive experience”.