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The Range Rover Sport Electric follows the Range Rover Electric but offers more responsive motors.
Land Rover is finally making the transition to electric and they’ve already launched two models almost back to back. The first was the Range Rover Electric, which came early in September. Now, in early October, we’re getting the second model, which is the Range Rover Sport Electric. Even in ICE form, the Range Rover Sport is positioned ‘one rung’ lower than the standard Range Rover, but as the name suggests, it’s also meant to be sportier.
The Range Rover Sport Electric will be available in 4 trim levels: Dynamic SE, Dynamic HSE, Autobiography and First Edition. There appear to be two versions: 450PS and 550PS with in-house 260kW permanent magnet electric drive units powering both axles. Torque ramps up 50 percent faster than on the standard Range Rover Electric, delivering throttle response in as little as five milliseconds. 0-100km/h times are expected to be around 4.3 seconds on the high performance model. The battery packs and electric drive units are produced in-house at JLR’s Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre (EPMC) in Wolverhampton, UK.
The battery pack will be a 118.5kWh and it can operate on both 400 volt and 800 volt split charging capability. Inside, 344 NMC prismatic cells are distributed in 10 modules. Range is expected to be around 609km on the WLTP cycle and 350kW DC fast charging speeds complement the 22kW AC charging speed. In terms of battery safety, there are two String Disconnect Units with fuses capable of cutting high voltage in 5 milliseconds to isolate faulty cells. ThermAssist is a system they’ve used to monitor 600 parameters to keep the battery working optimally and allows the vehicle to function even at -40°C. The battery itself comes with an 8-year, 160,000km factory warranty.
The Range Rover Sport Electric is built on the MLA-Flex platform with 61% higher torsional stiffness than the PHEV variant and it has a 73mm lower centre of gravity. The Electronic Active Roll Control applies 1400 Nm of anti-roll torque across each axle to compensate for twists in the corner. Dynamic Air Suspension is also present and you have dual-chamber air springs that are 50% stiffer for roll and pitch control. Active Speed Lowering reduces ride height by 16mm at cruising speeds. The vehicle features all-wheel steering and brake-by-wire technology.
Being a Range Rover product, all-terrain capabilities are expected. You get the following:
- Intelligent All-Wheel Drive (iAWD) and Intelligent Driveline Dynamics (IDD) monitor wheel slip 100 times per second and can vary rear torque from 100 percent down to zero.
- The vehicle maintains an authentic water wading depth of up to 900 mm.
- The air suspension can raise the front by up to 135 mm and the rear by up to 150 mm for up to 15 seconds during severe off-road articulation.
- The vehicle is engineered to scale inclines of up to 45 degrees.
- Terrain Response 2 features Configurable Terrain Response, Wade Mode with Wade Sensing, and Adaptive Off-Road Cruise Control.
- Single Pedal Driving debuts on a Range Rover, enabling complete stops and crawl control on- or off-road using motor regeneration up to 0.2g without applying the physical brake pedal.
- The vehicle features a maximum towing capacity of up to 2.5 tonnes, supported by Advanced Tow Assist, Hitch Assist, an Electronically Deployable Towbar, and a Towing Range Prediction tool.
