Range Rover’s First EV Won’t Be Its Most Powerful SUV

As JLR gets the first all-electric Range Rover ready for production, it keeps feeding us information about the SUV little by little. In the latest, it takes the Range Rover EV to the extreme north for winter testing. That includes testing a new technology that the automaker says preserves fast charging, range, and comfort in the cold. The British automaker also revealed how large the luxury off-roader’s battery pack would be.

One more detail has leaked out. A new report says that it will have more total horsepower than the gas Range Rover’s base twin-turbo V8. Though not as much as we might expect from a prestige car like this one.

Range Rover EV Gets 45,000 Miles Of Arctic Testing

JLR said that it has put the Range Rover EV through 45,000 miles of northern testing on frozen lakes and roads. The conditions are key to developing not just the EV’s climate and thermal management systems, but also to working on the performance of the dynamic systems and capabilities that are crucial to the brand’s image.

The Range Rover Electric will use a new 800V battery that is the first EV battery to be developed and built in-house by JLR. The RREV will get a capacity of 117 kWh, which should deliver a respectable range. The 800V system should also allow for 350 kW charging, to fill the Rover back up in a hurry.

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Range Rover buyers expect the ultimate in off-road ability, even in hellish temperatures.

JLR’s new thermal management system is called ThermAssistTM. The company didn’t detail what it does, but it did say that it reduces the amount of energy used to heat the cabin by up to 40 percent. It also promises to “minimize the impact of extreme temperatures on charging performance,” and “deliver optimised driving range, even in the coldest temperatures.” It can recover heat to warm the motors or cabin in temperatures as low as 14°F.

Electric Drive Should Offer Even Better Off-Road Performance

Electric 4×4 vehicles can deliver exceptionally precise torque delivery compared with gas, offering almost infinite adjustment. JLR’s Intelligent Driveline Dynamics tech can send up to 100 percent of the torque to the rear axle, while the traction management system can control motor speed within 50 milliseconds – 100 times quicker than gas. Once dialed in through this testing, it promises a new level of traction on slippery surfaces like ice and snow, as well as mud and rocks.

JLR also worked on one-pedal driving. The single-pedal mode uses regenerative braking and the brakes to slow the vehicle, with different responses based on the terrain mode selected. It was tested on hills as steep as 28 degrees.

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Is that a fake rear window we see?

As for the level of power, Top Gear reports that it will make 542 horsepower and 627 lb-ft of torque. That’s just a hair more power than the P530’s 4.4-liter V8 (523) and quite a bit more torque than the gas model’s 553 lb-ft. On the other hand, it comes up short of the 607 hp offered by the P615 version of that gas V8.

The remaining question for JLR is “When will it arrive?” The British automaker had planned to reveal the Range Rover EV in 2020, which means we’ve now been waiting almost an entire model life cycle for the electric Rover. Frustratingly, JLR didn’t give an update to go with this latest testing teaser.