Land Rover continues to work on the 100% electric Range Rover, a model that marks the Coventry-based company’s journey towards electric mobility, and it is undergoing intense testing.
After tests conducted in the Arctic Circle, it was now the turn of the 100% electric SUV to be tested in the desert of the United Arab Emirates, where it faced temperatures exceeding 50 degrees and humidity levels of 90%.
During these tough tests, Range Rover engineers assessed the thermal management system to cope with the high temperatures, where all test models had to climb several times the large dunes known as “Big Red” in the heart of the Al Badayer desert in Sharjah, some of which reach heights of 91 meters, to demonstrate that there are no performance drops.
It is already known that the 100% electric Range Rover will hit the market in 2025, and it features an 800-Volt architecture, which will allow for faster battery charging speeds with ultra-rapid chargers. It will be based on a flexible longitudinal modular platform and is equipped with two electric motors and all-wheel drive.
The off-road capabilities of the new 100% electric Range Rover are further enhanced by a wading depth of up to 850 mm, and a performance that Land Rover claims is equivalent to that of the 530 hp gasoline V8.
In addition to managing the thermal system, the new electric Range Rover has also tested a new intelligent torque system, which replaces a conventional traction control based on ABS. Allegedly, this new system improves traction as it reduces the torque response time per wheel from around 100 milliseconds to one millisecond.
“A hot climate is one of the most challenging for any 100% electric vehicle, due to the need to cool the cabin and optimize battery performance at the same time. The additional challenge of driving on sand requires controlled torque at low speeds, so our specially developed traction control and thermal management systems work in harmony to ensure that power delivery is not affected. These tests showed that in this climate, the Range Rover Electric matches the performance of combustion engine models, and in some cases, even surpasses them, benefiting from new features.”, said Thomas Müller, CEO of Land Rover.
