As part of Land Rover’s ‘on-going commitment to building vehicles that are more fuel and emissions-efficient’, the car maker, famed for its fuel-hungry 4x4s, revealed an important step in revising its image with the unveiled on the Range Rover Sport Range_e at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show back in March. As the firm moves to a greener future with its first plug-in hybrid model, can Land Rover keep loyal customers happy and meet environmental demands? Our reporter Alisdair Suttie finds out.
If we said a car was a hybrid with 85.0mpg average economy and emissions of 89g/km, you’d most rightly think we were talking about the latest Honda Insight or Toyota Prius. On the other hand, if we mentioned Range Rover, you’d recoil at the thought of high fuel costs and emissions to make most cringe at the expense.
Well, here we’re talking about both, all rolled up into one car that is the Range Rover Sport Range_e. As the more keen-eyed among you will have spotted, there’s a small ‘e’ at the end of this Range Rover’s somewhat lengthy name tag and it stands for ‘electric’.
Hybrid heads off-road
The Range_e is a plug-in hybrid prototype from Land Rover that is paving the way for the British company’s first standard hybrid models in 2013. This is likely to be a version of the next generation of full-scale Range Rover, but plug-in models from Land Rover are not so distant and should be on sale in 2015.
Land Rover’s Martin Dowson, Manager of Advanced Hybrid Research, explained why hybrids and, in particular, plug-in hybrids are the preferred choice for the 4×4 maker: ‘Hybrids offer a good combination of economy, emissions and range, while plug-in hybrids go even further to offering more versatility. Pure electric cars simply cannot travel far enough at present and Land Rover is a company built on making go-anywhere vehicles.
‘Our customers want both economy and performance, whether that performance is a car’s efficiency, speed, comfort or range. It all has to be packaged in every vehicle we make, so plug-in hybrids offer us this ability.’
Dowson goes on to explain the Range_e has been deliberately designed to charge from a normal household 13-amp socket to make it as user-friendly as possible. It can also be charged from more powerful sockets for faster recharging of the batteries. However, the five Range_e prototypes currently being trialled by Land Rover are meant to be used by as many different people as possible, not just engineers who understand and are sympathetic to the car. As Dowson says, this is the only way to find the car’s faults and strengths.
Economy and performance
So, what are the merits and downsides of this glimpse into Land Rover’s not-so distant future? First off, the Range_e looks just like any other Range Rover Sport from the outside, give or take a few stickers proclaiming its green credentials. A closer inspection reveals two fuel filler flaps on the left-hand flank, one for diesel and one for the electric charging socket.
Connecting and disconnecting the charging socket is quick and simple. When it’s hooked up to the car, there’s a small whirring noise from a fan in the boot where the electronics that govern the charger are kept. Otherwise, you’d never know this was a plug-in hybrid till you turned the ignition key.
When the key is turned, the main instrument dials are the only other giveaway that not all is as it seems. In place of the usual rev counter is a battery charge indicator, with a small ‘range_e’ logo on display in the centre of the digital display just as a reminder.
Setting off in the Range_e is as simple as in any other Range Rover Sport. Simply select Drive using the pop-up gear knob, let the handbrake off and away you go. In this prototype, there’s a large red button next to the gear lever that is an emergency stop button to switch everything off, but it’s only there because this car is a prototype and Land Rover takes a safety first attitude to such test cars.
Same drive, different sound
On the move, the big difference between the Range_e and other Sports is the near total lack of sound. The Range_e is set up to travel at up to 70mph on electric power alone, far outstripping anything currently on the market. This means you need never use the 242bhp 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel engine on a commuter journey.
The Range_e can travel up to 22 miles before the battery runs down to the point where the diesel engine is needed as a back up. For most commuter journeys in the UK, this is more than enough to get you to work. Once there, plug in the charger and you can head home in the evening using only electricity too.
The other side of the hybrid equation is the combination of electric motor and V6 turbodiesel offers 334bhp of power. Used together, they make the Range_e as quick off the mark and through the gears as any of the most potent large SUVs currently on sale. It may not be the most green way to drive, but it’s certainly entertaining.
Our short drive showed the Range_e has the same cosseting ride as a standard Range Rover Sport. The handling also seemed much the same, though we suspect the additional 170kg weight of the batteries might tell on more twisty roads than we encountered.
Our only real disappointment was the jerky feel of the eight-speed automatic gearbox. Land Rover has worked very hard to ensure the diesel engine blends into the power mix seamlessly when it’s needed. Even so, the auto ’box moved from one ratio to the next with a noticeable jolt on several occasions.
This is forgivable on a hard-worked prototype and Land Rover assures us any subsequent production model would not experience this. Otherwise, the Range_e is an impressively complete car that demonstrates a large SUV can provide the sort of emissions that not only make it very clean but also hugely appealing to company car drivers who might otherwise have been steered elsewhere by a fleet manager.
Both business and private users will enjoy the 85.0mpg average economy, which adds up to a 690-mile range on a single fill of diesel and fully charged battery pack. Regenerative braking is used in the Range_e to help top up the batteries’ charge.
All of this makes the Range_e a car that we can see easily succeeding in a market that is only going to get tougher for more traditional fuel-thirsty large SUVs. Land Rover has preserved all that is attractive in the Range Rover Sport, including its off-road ability, and added superb economy and emissions to the equation. The only other figure Land Rover now needs to get right is the price and the company says volume production will make its plug-in hybrid technology not only viable but affordable. Looks like Land Rover has got its sums right.
Alisdair Suttie.
