The Range Rover Sport goes electric
At long last, the Range Rover Sport is going electric. The announcement follows the preview of the Range Rover Electric, which has spent the British summer making appearances at a series of exclusive viewing events ahead of its official reveal later this year.
Presented during a preview event at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK last week, details surrounding the Range Rover Sport Electric are still sketchy at the moment, but the British marque says it will redefine performance SUVs across the board.
Interestingly, this doesn’t mark the end of the ICE-powered Range Rover Sport. According to the brand, the Electric will be sold alongside the petrol and plug-in hybrid variants. That’s a sensible move. Buyers should have the freedom to choose the powertrain that best suits their needs, rather than being forced into an EV. Porsche is taking a similar approach with the Cayenne, which will continue to be offered with combustion engines alongside the all-electric weapon.
In terms of design, don’t expect it to look like a radical EV. The prototype looks almost identical to the current RR Sport, with only a few subtle changes to suit its EV nature. These include a more enclosed grille, new aerodynamic alloys and a redesigned lower rear bumper.
Wielding the same MLA-Flex architecture, which was designed to support petrol, diesel, PHEV and EV platforms, means that the RR hasn’t had to compromise its off-road capabilities to accommodate batteries.
At this stage, RR is mum regarding the numbers, but the Sport Electric will likely share most of its hardware with the large RR Electric. It could feature dual electric motors with around 400kW and 850Nm. With all four wheels driving the car, it could sprint from 0-100km/h in around 4 seconds. For reference, the RR Sport P635 with its BMW-sourced 4.4-litre pushes out 467kW and 800Nm, enough to accelerate the SUV from 0-100km/h in 3.9 seconds.
While not officially confirmed, prototypes are widely expected to use a large 118.5kWh battery pack with 800-volt architecture and DC charging capabilities.
When it finally comes, it will go head-to-head with premium electric SUVs such as the BMW iX, Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV, Porsche Cayenne Electric (not on sale in South Africa for the foreseeable future), Lotus Eletre, and Audi Q8 e-Tron. It’s an interesting direction for Range Rover, but regardless of what powers it, we just hope it still feels like a Range Rover Sport. That’s important.
