Land Rover says its upcoming fully-electric 2024 Range Rover EV should be even more refined than the regular versions, though the company expects demand for the combustion and hybrid models to outstrip it initially.
Speaking exclusively to CarExpert at the international launch of the new Range Rover in California last week, JLR vehicle line director Rory O’Murchu said the challenge creating an electric flagship was to balance its heritage with future demands.
“I think the thing about a Range Rover is that it needs to be itself, so we didn’t try to do anything differently for the EV version. The important thing is that the architecture has been designed and engineering to be ‘EVable’, so for the PHEV the battery is underneath the floor and the architecture has been engineered to take the BEV battery as well,” O’Murchu said.
According to Jaguar Land Rover’s global product senior manager Ryan Miller, demand for the Range Rover electric is currently very much market-dependent.
“I think there is demand out there, this car has always been about extra refinement and being capable so the EV in theory should be the most refined Range Rover ever, and we are really conscious of that and we are going to get it to market but we are going to do it at the right time and do it properly.” he said.
“You can’t do anything other than 110 per cent properly on a Range Rover.”
Demand for the EV is unlikely to outstrip demand for the standard internal combustion variants in the near future.
“I think there is demand there but I don’t think there is a volume of demand there, if I am really honest, it’s a niche that is growing.
“There is a definitely a growing need, so it’s not an ‘if’ it’s a ‘when’. The tipping point for different markets is probably quite significantly different but I am super confident that we will have a big order book when we get this to market in a couple of years.”
The electric Range Rover will be built alongside the standard and plug-in hybrid variants and according to O’Murchu, “that’s the beauty of designing it from the outset as a new architecture, we have a production line that we can build BEV, ICE and PHEV”.
The Range Rover engineer admits his team learnt a great deal from the Jaguar I-Pace electric car that has contributed to better engineering of the upcoming Range Rover EV.
The all new Range Rover arrives in Australia around August.
Read our 2022 Range Rover Review.
Keyword: Electric Range Rover ‘should be the most refined’