Starting today, those who wish to be one of the first owners of the future electric Range Rover can now sign up for the waiting list. This is a step prior to the formal opening of the order book. Such is the expectation that the model generates among fans of the brand and off-road vehicles in general that the company has taken this step, despite the fact that this zero-emission version is still in the prototype phase and will not go on the market until the end of the year. 2024.
According to the general director of the British firm, Geraldine Ingham, the international demand for the latest generation of the Range Rover, launched in 2021, is the highest it has experienced in its 53-year history. With the electric variant of the luxury SUV, the brand will begin a new era.
This alternative, manufactured in the United Kingdom, will become part of the current range, which includes micro-hybrid (MHEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) versions. As reported by the firm, it will offer performance comparable to the flagship of the range, powered by a powerful 615 HP V8 gasoline engine.
And most importantly: it will have the 4×4 capabilities that, for decades, have characterized the brand’s vehicles. Its towing, fording and off-road capabilities will be superior to its rivals. “It will be a truly global luxury product, unprecedented in the sector,” said Thomas Müller, executive director of product engineering at JLR (as the British group Jaguar-Land Rover is called). No data has yet been provided on the autonomy that the vehicle will offer. We will have to wait for the brand to provide more details about the car.
At the moment, physical tests of the prototype are already being carried out. The first real vehicles have been manufactured after a year of virtual development of frontal resistance, multi-body systems analysis, which takes into account the needs of the chassis, and digital wading at up to 50 km/h.
International road tests have also begun, from Sweden to Dubai, where the vehicles will withstand temperatures of -40 to 50 ºC. The international physical testing program has been tailored to the characteristics of Range Rover’s first all-electric vehicle to ensure the strength of the electric powertrain (including the underbody), battery life, chassis integrity and dynamic power loss tests due to temperature.
The design, engineering and manufacturing of the new electric Range Rover will be carried out on the MLA longitudinal modular platform at the British Solihull plant. It will be the first time that batteries and electric propulsion units are manufactured and assembled at JLR’s new Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Center in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom, as part of Range Rover’s electrification process to meet the goal of neutrality in emissions. carbon before 2039.
