Land Rover unveils Electric Defender

Land Rover will be revealing not one, not two but seven Defender electric research vehicles at the Geneva Motor Show which starts tomorrow. This electric Defender will remain an all-wheel drive and will use a modified version of Land Rover's terrain response system.

Powered by a 94bhp electric motor which is twinned with a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 27kWh, the Defender has undergone some serious and successful off-road trials. Land Rover says that they have managed to successfully pull a 12-tonne road train up a 13% gradient during the trials, which is phenomenal for an electric car.

The battery can last upto 8 hours off-road, as speeds are much lower and there is less consumption of power. A fast charger gives a full charge in four hours and if a 3kW portable charger is used the charging time goes upto 10 hours. Regenerative braking also helps prolong the charge of the battery pack. A major technical difference in the electric powertrain is that it is air-cooled instead of liquid cooled and thus less complex and efficient.

Antony Harper, Jaguar Land Rover Head of Research, said that there are no plans to put the electric Defender into production but these test vehicles will be put up for trials in real world conditions. This will give Land Rover a chance to evolve and test some of the technologies that we may one day witness in future Land Rover models.