Jaguar-Land Rover Create Electric SUV

You can’t go far without seeing electric vehicles these days. From the ridiculously quick Tesla S P85 to Mitsubishi’s i-Miev, there are many models of EV to choose from. It was only a matter of time then before Jaguar-Land Rover jumped on board the electric bandwagon. It is rumoured that the car manufacturer is planning to design, construct and produce a stylish EV before the end of the decade.

Jaguar-Land Rover are not new to the EV initiative.

It is rumoured the company executives are undecided as to whether or not the future EV will be brought to the market under the guise of a Jaguar or a Land Rover. The German magazine Auto, Motor Und Sport has said that the EV would likely be unveiled as a Jaguar for marketing reasons though and this is fuelling speculation that the new EV will be based upon Jaguar’s upcoming F-Pace.

It doesn’t really matter which badge the new EV will wear on the outside, the car will likely be a relatively large SUV or a crossover style vehicle. This is because those particular body styles are more practical in the way of size; offering more space to fit electric-specific components such as large battery packs.

Obviously this new project is still at the rudimentary stage of development, so information regarding such technical details as exactly how much power the drivetrain is going to generate and what sort of battery pack will be used to store electricity are not yet available.

Jaguar-Land Rover are not new to the EV game, two years ago, the company had designed and manufactured an experimental Land Rover Defender, which was powered by an electric motor that was rated at 94 horsepower. There were seven examples that were made of that particular model. Interesting to note that the testing revealed the eco-friendly Defender, which gave approximately similar off-road capacity as the diesel model.

If this rumour does turn out to be true, the first full-production electric vehicle from Jaguar-Land Rover should be sold globally by 2018. Their first plug-in hybrid from the team is expected to hit the showrooms by 2017.

[Image via landrover-center]

SOURCE: Digital Trends