Range Rover Velar is set to become an electric car by 2025
Range Rover Velar is set to become an electric car by 2025
What’s next for Land Rover’s electrification?
So far, the British brand has only plug-in hybrids but not a single electric car on the market, the partner brand Jaguar has only one with the I-Pace. But the outlines of the strategy are gradually emerging. After electric versions of the Evoque and Discovery Sport have already been confirmed.
There is now also talk of an electric Velar.
The Range Rover Velar started in 2017 (report at Motor1) as a 4.80-meter-long combustion SUV. Since the facelift in 2020, the car has also been available with a plug-in hybrid drive. The Velar is built in Solihull (near Birmingham) with its technical twin Jaguar F-Pace. But the second generation of the Velar should start in 2025 as a purely electric car, writes Autocar.
The new Velar is competed against the 2024 launch Porsche Macan EV and its twin Audi Q6 e-tron. The Land Rover newcomer is built in Halewood (near Liverpool). The site converted for the production of electric cars in 2024. The Production of the electric Velar will start there first, with the electric versions of the Evoque and Discovery Sport to follow shortly.
While the electric versions of the 20 centimeters shorter Discovery Sport and the even smaller compact SUV Evoque were confirmed two years ago, there have only been rumors about an electric version of the Velar. At the end of April, however, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) wrote in an official press release:
“The Halewood plant will be converted into an all-electric production facility, and the next generation of mid-size SUVs will be built on the electrified modular architecture (EMA) – i.e. all-electric drive.”
The Velar was meant by that, Like the electric Evoque and the electric Discovery Sport, the newcomer is to be based on the Electrified Modular Architecture (EMA) presented in 2021, which was designed for the smaller Land Rover models.
This platform originally intended to carry plug-in hybrids in addition to electric cars, but now there is only talk of pure electric cars. There is no information on batteries and drives yet. But EMA is supposed to support fast charging with 800-volt technology. In addition, a power consumption of 13.8 to 15.5 kWh/100 km should be achievable.
The next electric car from JLR after the I-Pace will not be one of the small SUVs but an electric version of the Range Rover. That will be based on the Modular Longitudinal Architecture (MLA), a multi-drive platform that already carries combustion engine versions of the new Range Rover and Range Rover Sport.
The all-electric Range Rover has already been announced for 2024 Pre-orders should be possible as early as 2023. The electric range should look similar to the combustion model. He will compete against the BMW iX and the Mercedes EQS SUV.
Jaguar and Land Rover were taken over by the Indian Tata Group in 2008. In the future, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) no longer wants to offer two but four brands: Range Rover, Discovery, Defender, and Jaguar. Each of these brands is expected to have an electric model by 2026, Autocar reported in April by 2030, every model series should offer an electric car, and all cars sold should be electric cars by 2036.
This plan apparently comes from the new interim boss Adrian Mardell, who took over the reins from his predecessor Thierry Bolloré in early 2023.
Our cover photo shows the recently introduced 2024 model year Range Rover Velar.
JLR will invest some 15,000 million pounds ($18.237 million to change) in electromobility over the next five years to become the leading manufacturer of luxury electric cars on the planet.
Related Post
