Regular readers of Unfinished Man know how much I love the Land Rover Defender and how much I wish it was available in North America. Even though it’s an outdated car and behaves like a pig on the road, it’s its off-road capabilities that make it world-famous. The Defender was available here for a few years but only with gasoline engines, which were incredibly bad on gas (and therefore, the wallet); and that’s why Land Rover is experimenting with the Defender Electric model.
I’m pretty sure they’re not going to offer an electric Defender any time soon and this is just an exercise to get data on how some of their electric components perform in tough off-road conditions. The Defender is going to be replaced with the DC100, which might come with all-electric or a hybrid powertrain. Land Rover is “electrifying” 7 Defenders for this experiment and will be bringing those vehicles to the Geneva Motor Show in March.
So what does the electric Land Rover Defender have; a car that even David Suzuki might consider buying? At the heart of the Defender electric is a 70 kW, 330 Nm electric motor, placed in the engine compartment. The electric motor is connected to a 300 volt lithium-ion battery pack with 27 kW capacity (taken from LR press release, I really have no idea what all of this mumbo jumbo means). This combination gives the Defender a 50 mile (80 km) range. That might not seem like a lot, but according to Land Rover, the battery pack should last for up to 8 hours in slow off-road conditions.
The battery pack can be recharged in 4 hours, using a 7 kW fast charger or in 10 hours with a portable 3 kW charger. The battery pack is housed next to the electric motor and weighs 903 pounds (410 kg), the Defender Electric weighs 220 pounds (100 kg) more than a comparable diesel powered Defender. Via: Land Rover
Land Rover Defender Electric Concept
