New Range Rover Sport Electric Is The Torquiest One Ever

Even without a gas engine, Land Rover is putting the Sport in Range Rover Sport.

2027 Range Rover Sport Electric

Photo by: Land Rover

Adrian Padeanu

By: Adrian Padeanu

Sep 30, at 5:59am ET

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While we’re patiently waiting for JLR to finally reveal the much-hyped Jaguar Type 01, the Tata Motors-owned company is sneaking in another EV. It hasn’t been that long since the Range Rover Electric broke cover, and now its Sport sibling is ready for prime time. You can’t necessarily tell it's lost its combustion engine, since the silent luxobarge looks much like its ICE-powered counterpart.

Range Rover, which, by the way, has been its own sub-brand for a while now, claims the Sport out-torques any model before it. With a mountain-moving 850 Nm (627 lb-ft) on tap, it has more twisting power than even the mighty SV with its twin-turbo 4.4-liter V8 of BMW origins. Instead of a gas-guzzling gas engine, it packs a pair of electric motors delivering a combined 543 hp for a 0-60 mph (96 km/h) sprint in just 4.3 seconds.

And because this is still a Range Rover, JLR didn’t develop it solely for straight-line acceleration. The company took the electric SUV to the Carrara marble quarries in Italy, where it tackled gradients of up to 45 degrees and surfaces ranging from polished marble to deep layers of marble dust. The route climbed to Gioia Peak, more than 3,000 feet (914 meters) above sea level.

2027 Range Rover Sport Electric

2027 Range Rover Sport Electric

Photo by: Land Rover

Sportier But Still With Serious Off-Road Credentials

The electric powertrain is also considerably more responsive than the one in the big-daddy Rangie. JLR says torque ramps up 50 percent faster, helping the electric SUV put the Sport in Range Rover Sport. Not only that, but the body is 61 percent stiffer than the plug-in hybrid model, while the center of gravity sits 73 mm (2.9 inches) lower.

Even though it's set up to be more dynamic and fun to drive, we’re told it remains a proper off-roader despite ditching the combustion engine. The electric Sport can wade through up to 900 mm (35.4 inches) of water and climb 45-degree inclines.

Under the floor sits a 118.5-kWh lithium-ion battery, with an 800-volt electrical architecture enabling fast charging. Land Rover (sorry, Range Rover) quotes up to 378 miles (609 kilometers) on the WLTP cycle, which isn't groundbreaking but not necessarily terrible either. A 10-minute charge can add up to 136 miles (220 km) with a sufficiently powerful charger. If you’re not in that much of a hurry, a 10-to-80-percent charge takes approximately 22 minutes.

2027 Range Rover Sport Electric

2027 Range Rover Sport Electric

Photo by: Land Rover

The Range Rover Sport Electric Isn't Quiet

As is the modus operandi with the latest EVs, there’s even a bespoke soundtrack. Range Rover’s engineers created a unique sound for the Sport Electric to make the various drive modes feel more engaging. Because apparently the virtually instantaneous heaps of torque weren’t dramatic enough. According to the marketing jargon, the noises it makes "blur the lines between music and engineering."

Production will take place at JLR’s Solihull plant in the UK on the same lines as the combustion-powered and PHEV versions. Although the Range Rover Sport Electric will go head-to-head with the Porsche Cayenne Electric, we’d argue it’ll be in a class of its own by retaining the gas model’s off-road credentials. Not that too many people are likely to drive it on anything other than asphalt…

The Range Rover Sport Electric Is A Smooth Operator

There’s also an interesting question of how much of that extra performance will actually matter to buyers. The Sport has never been about chasing supercar lap times, and the electric version doesn’t suddenly turn it into one. Instead, that instant response should make the SUV feel more effortless around town and when overtaking, where electric torque is arguably more useful than another few tenths shaved off a sprint.

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More importantly, the Sport Electric gives JLR another way to expand the Range Rover formula without completely reinventing it. The company has kept the familiar design, luxury-focused cabin, and go-anywhere hardware while quietly swapping the mechanical bits underneath for something considerably more modern. For a brand built around evolution rather than revolution, that seems like a pretty predictable approach.

Now, JLR, just give us the Jaguar Type 01...

2027 Range Rover Sport Electric

Source: Land Rover