The Most Important Range Rover EV Is Coming Sooner Than We Thought
The Range Rover Sport is getting an electric version, and it’s going right on the Lucid Gravity’s territory.
- Land Rover will launch an electric version of the Range Rover Sport, one of its best-selling SUVs.
- Based on the same bones as the big Range Rover EV, the electric RRS will charge at up to 350 kW.
- Air suspension, a pair of ultra-responsive electric motors, and over 300 miles of range complete the picture.
The Range Rover Sport, one of the brand’s most ubiquitous SUVs, is getting an all-electric version later this year. That said, the British marque has gone out of its way to make it as hard as possible to differentiate the gas model from the EV, as the nearly-finished electric prototypes look identical to the current model, save for the closed-off grille and lack of exhaust tips.
For what it’s worth, the current-generation Range Rover Sport is quite the looker, so it makes a lot of sense to go down the same route with the electric version. Design aside, though, it’s the underpinnings that matter now, and Land Rover has finally revealed many of the details that will help the battery-powered Range Rover Sport make a name for itself in the increasingly crowded electric SUV segment.
The SUV is bound to go head-to-head with the Lucid Gravity, a car that set a very high bar in the market. But Land Rover reckons it has what it takes to impress car buyers who have an appetite for $100,000+ SUVs. The upcoming Range Rover Sport Electric is based on the same 800-volt architecture as its larger sibling, the big Range Rover, and it’s powered by a rather large 118.5-kilowatt-hour battery, which enables an estimated driving range of 330 miles on the EPA cycle.
By comparison, the Lucid Gravity gets its electrons from a 123 kWh pack and manages to go 450 miles on a full charge. The difference in capacity is small, but the range difference is huge, and it’s down to the bulky nature of the Range Rover, which isn’t exactly the gold standard in efficiency.
On the other hand, the Range Rover Sport Electric should be one of the most off-road-capable models in its class, thanks to a pair of electric motors that were developed in-house, simply because the company couldn’t find a supplier that could meet its expectations.
The RRS EV will be available with either 444 horsepower or 542 horsepower, depending on the version, but the thing that differentiates it from rivals is the high torque output from a standstill. Sure, all EV motors make a lot of torque from the get-go, but Land Rover wants its Range Rover models to perform effortlessly both on- and off-road, and it needed something that could deliver that.
Gallery: Range Rover Sport Electric prototype
Packaging-wise, the electric RRS is said to be not much different from the current gas model, with Land Rover tucking all of the battery electronics inside the transmission tunnel. Despite the big battery living under the floor, the driver and passengers get the same level of interior space as on the gas and plug-in hybrid models.
Range Rovers have always been very refined and nice to drive, and swapping the combustion engine for a near-silent electric powertrain makes a lot of sense for the brand.
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